So in terms of the nature of and character of the phone call, I would echo what Speaker Boehner said, and he said that it was frank and direct and good.
There's an echo of "Network's" Howard Beale in the character of Arthur Edens (the reliably excellent Tom Wilkinson), a "killer litigator" who cracks up in the midst of a major case: the defense of an ethically indefensible agrochemical company that's been poisoning its customers.