The Counselor: gloomy film that, on paper, seems to be great fun. The reality is different, as it’s as drab as it can be. The main culprit is the writing, where all characters are both unappealing and uninteresting, always a bad combination; the great-looking cast can do very little with the material they are given. The dialogue, pretentious and monotonous, doesn’t at all help matters, and it’s treated with too much respect.