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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Runaway Jury (2003)
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| Laura Clifford |
 Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:17 pm |
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RUNAWAY JURY
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When the widow of the victim of an office shooting takes the gun manufacturer
to court, the high stakes trial draws jury selection specialist Rankin Fitch
(Gene Hackman), who guarantees a win to the defendant for a multi-million
dollar price tag and Lawrence Green (Jeremy Piven), a morally motivated upstart
who sells his services to prosecuting attorney Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman)
for 20% of his fee. What neither of these men know is that there is a third
player, Nicholas Easter (John Cusack), who has scammed his way onto the jury
itself in order to sway it to the highest bidder in "Runaway Jury."
Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Rick Cleveland and Matthew Chapman adapt the
John Grisham novel, switching focus from the tobacco industry to guns, a smart
move both dramatically and cinematically. After a truly jolting opener, which
sets expectations one way then unexpectedly veers another in depicting the
crime, Easter is introduced telling his smoker's coughing super 'You should
quit those things.' He seems an everyday Joe honestly anxious to get out of his
call to jury duty. Meanwhile Fitch descends upon New Orleans like a celebrity
nobody knows. As the crisply efficient Amanda Monroe (Marguerite Moreau)
supervises the assembly of a surveillance room, Fitch's imminent arrival is
monitored via walkie talkie. A flashy display of the tricks of Fitch's trade
make Rohr look like a sitting duck.
Once the game is afoot, the mysterious Marlee (Rachel Weisz), Easter's partner,
delivers 'jury for sale' notices to both attorneys. Rohr refuses to listen to
Green's entreaties to take the threat seriously until a display of power is
wielded when Easter gets the jury to deliver a 'Pledge of Allegiance' in court.
A three way game of chess begins as jury members begin dropping.
Director Gary Fleder ("Kiss the Girls") delivers a big, hulking Hollywood movie
that pushes all the right entertainment buttons. The cast all do solid, if
unexceptional work, although Hoffman plucks his "Tootsie" voice out of
retirement to double as a Southern accent. He and Hackman get a chance to
grandstand through a men's room confrontation that was added just to get these
two in a scene together. Supporting players such as Cliff Curtis, Nora Dunn
and Rusty Schwimmer add flavor as embattled jurors.
The film's strengths and minuses lie mostly in Grisham's source material.
While Easter's psychological trickery gaining the favor of his fellow jurors is
very entertaining, the plot is generally contrived and resolution morally
suspect.
"Runaway Jury" always has another trick up its sleeve, though, leaving little
time to ponder its shortcomings. It's a slick production that, while not up to
"The Firm," is certainly solid second tier Grisham oeuvre.
B-
For more Reeling reviews visit http://www.reelingreviews.com
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X-RAMR-ID: 36030
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1207131
X-RT-TitleID: 1126402
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1487
X-RT-RatingText: B- |
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