Plot
Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) is a young man with a promising future in law. About to graduate from Harvard Law School, he is approached by Bendini, Lambert & Locke, 'The Firm', and made an offer he cannot refuse. He and his wife, Abigail "Abby" (Jeanne Tripplehorn), move to Memphis, where The Firm is located. Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) becomes his mentor at The Firm.

Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, including a house and car, he is at first totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two associates are murdered. The FBI contacts him, asking him for information and informing him that the firm is connected to the mob, and that every associate who has ever tried to leave the firm ends up murdered. His life as he knows it is forever changed. He has a choice: work with the FBI and risk being discovered by the firm and losing his law license because he believes that attorney–client confidentiality prevents him from revealing the firm’s illegal activities to investigators, or stay with the firm and both violate his personal code of ethics and go to jail when the FBI cracks the firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it.

Mitch devises a plan that allows him to cooperate with the FBI by finding proof that all partners from the firm were guilty of overbilling, while at the same time reaching an agreement with the mob Morolto brothers. In addition he manages to do so without breaking any laws, thereby being able to keep his status as a lawyer.

At the end of the film, the McDeeres leave their house in Memphis for Boston, driving the same car they arrived in.

Critical reception
Critical reaction to The Firm has been mostly positive, with the film earning a 76% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Roger Ebert gave The Firm three stars out of four, remarking: "The movie is virtually an anthology of good small character performances. ... The large gallery of characters makes The Firm into a convincing canvas ...  with a screenplay that developed the story more clearly, this might have been a superior movie, instead of just a good one with some fine performances."

The film earned some negative reviews as well, notably from James Berardinelli, who said that "ery little of what made the written version so enjoyable has been successfully translated to the screen, and what we're left with instead is an overly-long  pedantic thriller." Grisham enjoyed the film, remarking: "I thought  did a good job. He played the innocent young associate very well."

Box office
The film was released while Grisham was at the height of his popularity. That week, Grisham and Michael Crichton evenly divided the top six paperback spots on The New York Times Best Seller list. The film was a huge success, making over $158 million domestically and $111 million internationally ($270 million worldwide). Additionally, it was the largest grossing R-rated movie of 1993 and of any film based on a Grisham novel.