Based on a novel by John Grisham, “Runaway Jury” (2003) is unabashedly pulpy, but I found it very entertaining. The plot is implausible, but the expert pacing, New Orleans location shooting, and slick production values helped overcome the film’s weaknesses. I’d never mistake this movie for a work of art in any way, but it is a work of high craft. And the level of craft was one of the things that made this film so enjoyable, including the charismatic performances and star power of Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and John Cusack.
The most intriguing part of the movie for me was its dramatization of the jury selection process. The film’s most memorable character is the amoral Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), a high-powered jury consultant who employs a team of assistants and uses computers, video surveillance, wiretaps, and psychological profiles to try to get a jury impaneled that will favor his client. He tells his underlings, “We love fat women, people. They’re tight-fisted, unsympathetic.”
Fitch is being paid big bucks from something called the Sportsman’s Legacy Fund, which contains millions of dollars supplied by a consortium of gun companies. One of those companies, Vicksburg Firearms, is being sued in civil court for negligent distribution—a semiautomatic pistol they made was used in a brokerage house shooting that killed 11 people. The plaintiff is the widow of one of the victims, but her legal assistance and financial backing come from well-heeled anti-gun activists.
Plaintiff’s attorney is Wendall Rohr, a courtly, Southern gentleman. Rohr is portrayed by Dustin Hoffman, playing against type. I think Hoffman does a competent job, but his character is low-key and failed to make a vivid impression on me in this over-the-top, larger-than-life movie. Rohr is the sort of trial lawyer who believes the jurors won’t like for him to be nattily attired, so he deliberately puts mustard on his tie and wears a cheap suit. At one point, the expensively dressed Rankin compliments Rohr, “Nice suit. Very, um, ‘of the people’.”
I suppose the character the audience is expected to identify with is Nick Easter (John Cusack), who asks to be excused from jury duty so he can participate in a video game contest called the Madden Challenge. But this is a ruse, and it turns out Easter has downloaded the entire Cincinnati voter registration roll onto his MP3 player as part of an elaborate scheme to get himself on a jury. Actually, he’s involved in a conspiracy with a mysterious woman named Marlee (Rachel Weisz), and working together they will claim to be able to sway a jury either way, then offer both sides the opportunity to buy the verdict for millions of dollars.
The most interesting thing about “Runaway Jury” to me was its focus on the fallibility of the American jury system. Before I saw the film, I thought it might take a serious look at the responsibilities of gun manufacturers, but instead it’s just preachy on that topic. In fact, the movie is brutally heavy-handed throughout with no sense of nuance or subtlety. But I found “Runaway Jury” diverting and recommend it for its entertainment value, especially if you’re looking for something you can just watch and forget almost immediately.
The DVD comes with lots of extras, and I have listed them on the next page.
