Runaway Jury
[DVD Info]

Two years after a deadly shooting at a brokerage firm resulting in the death of Henry Wood (Jack Massey), his wife, Celeste (Joanna Going), is suing the gun company The Game Trader, holding them responsible for pain and suffering and the death of her husband. The jury selection is ready to be made but the process for such a high profile case is a little more complex than most people know. The gun company has hired Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) as a jury consultant, who is paid to put people on the jury who would help their case, not hurt it, based on their body language and things they say. One person on the jury selection is Nick Easter (John Cusack) who seems to have fallen out of the sky 6 months ago. He gets put on the jury but it seems there’s more to him than meets the eye. Both lawyers in the case receive a letter stating the jury is for sale for the bargain price of $10 million…who’s behind it and how can they possibly sway a jury that’s supposedly under their control?

Judges in Louisiana treat the jury to gourmet meals.
Madden Football won't get you out of Jury Duty.

"I don't know about you but I'm feeling pretty partiotic." ~Lawrence Green.

Mmm...I dunno...

I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. A movie about juries? I was expecting something along the lines of Citizen Kane or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (no offense to people who like those movies…I just found them sooooo boring) but it was actually pretty good. There was a lot of plot holes that were irritating (i.e.: aren’t jury’s supposed to live in motel rooms during the whole trial? Would a jurist really be able to sneak out of the police’s custody? Would a judge buy the jury lunch at a fancy restaurant?) and the ending…man…endings like this really kill the whole feel of the movie. They stop and watch the children and play sad music. Those 2 minutes actually docked the movie down a star. John Cusack was really awesome in this movie…he does kind of have that look to him where he could swindle anything out of you. It had a good message but…I think they should have stuck to it being about cigarettes. So what if The Insider did the same thing…it wouldn’t be a copy…it just seems weird that this lady would sue the gun company. Shouldn’t she be suing the man who killed her husband? Anyway…this was a good flick…but don’t believe people who said it’s about con artists…’cause it totally isn’t and when they say that it’s like they’ve ignored that last 20 minutes of the movie. Anyway… Because of this, the jury gives this flick:

but
(Entertained but Annoyed)

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