Directed by:
Gary FlederCinematography:
Robert ElswitComposer:
Christopher YoungCast:
John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz, Bruce Davison, Bruce McGill, Jeremy Piven, Nick Searcy, Stanley Anderson, Cliff Curtis, Nestor Serrano (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) can spin any jury in favor of his client. At least he always could before. But his latest job may turn out to be his most challenging. As an explosive civil case goes to trial in New Orleans, Fitch thinks he has arranged for the perfect jury and has the verdict sealed in favor of his client, a gun manufacturer. Soon, however, he starts receiving phone calls from the mysterious Marlee (Rachel Weisz), who claims that she can turn the jury any way she wants and--for a price--she'll spin it his way. Meanwhile, Marlee is making the same offer to the plaintiff's lawyer, Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), a Southern gentleman who always plays by the rules. Marlee's insider is Juror #9, Nick Easter (John Cusack), who is working with her to influence his fellow jurors. Are these two just grifters in it for the money, or do they have another agenda? (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
A tame and routine staging of one big trial and the associated string-pulling outside the courtroom. It has a stellar cast featuring Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman, but lacks in emphasis, more sophisticated grip and memorable scenes. Purely average, a nineties movie shot a decade too late.
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Another tale from the pen of John Grisham on the subject of courtroom drama, this time focusing ostentatiously on the jurors and ways of influencing them. It's not quite a typical courtroom drama, as the flip side of the whole case comes to the fore here, and the trial itself is presented only as a formal guarantee of justice for the public and the media. The decision-making and the most important part of the trial here takes place in an ultra-gray zone, which contributes to the much larger impression of a courtroom thriller and at some points even breathtaking action scenes (within the courtroom drama genre definitely). As a whole, Runaway Jury is unfortunately oddly uneven, which prevents me from ranking it among the top films from the courtroom setting. But if you seek out genre films with a similar tone, you should definitely not miss this. Within the genre, it's still strongly above average.
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