"Runaway Jury" is the type of film that's unlikely to be of comfort to anyone who's already disillusioned with the American justice system. It's also the type of film that frustrates audiences and critics because it thinks it's smarter than it is.
This legal thriller — which, at more than two hours, is a little too long — is too contrived for its own good. Also, despite what are clearly meant to be some surprising twists and turns, "Runaway Jury" is actually fairly predictable and doesn't really feel either authentic or genuine.
Still, it does feature a great cast, which goes a long way toward repairing some of the damage done by its rather sketchy plotting and scripting. That includes John Cusack, who stars as Nick Easter, a New Orleans game-store manager who's just been selected for jury duty. The jury is to decide the matter of a class-action lawsuit against a gun manufacturer, brought by the wife of a stockbrocker who was slain with one of the company's automatic weapons.
Needless to say, it's an extremely important case. But before it even goes to trial, it quickly turns into a contest of gamesmanship between attorney Wendall Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) and Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), a jury-selection specialist who's been hired by the defendants to stack the deck in their favor.
However, there's a wild card in all this that neither has counted on — Nick's girlfriend, Marlee (Rachel Weisz), who is using him to influence the other jurors.
Director Gary Fleder does get some mileage out of the material, but the ending is far too convenient and seems too optimistic, considering how cynical the rest of the movie is.
Still, there's no denying how good the cast is. Cusack uses his trademark likability to good effect here, while Weisz is always an excellent conniver.
And the film is probably worth seeing just for the acting showdown between screen veterans Hackman and Hoffman. Despite his character being rather one-dimensional, Hackman makes him thoroughly hiss-worthy, while Hoffman brings a folksy appeal to the equally underwritten plaintiff's representative.
In support, Jeremy Piven and Dylan McDermott are also good, the former as another juror-selection specialist, the latter in an all-too-brief role as the slain man.
"Runaway Jury" is rated PG-13 for violence (shootings, vehicular and violence against women), profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), a brief sex scene and brief drug content (an overdose of sleeping pills). Running time: 123 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com