Runaway Jury
The widow of a murdered lawyer, shot by a madman with a semi-automatic weapon, does what any widow would do in this situation: sue the gun manufacturer of course. So she hires Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) and proceeds to sue Vicksburg Firearms. The company is obviously worried about the outcome of the case and hires a jury consultant led by Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman). But this is no ordinary jury consulting firm (Jeremy Piven seems to play this role for the plaintiffs). Armed with high-tech equipment, manpower, and unlimited sources of information, they can pick and choose jurors while manipulating the swing jurors their way through other means. Enter Nicholas Easter, played by John Cusack. By an unknown motive, he gets on that jury, allowing girlfriend Marlee (Rachel Weisz) to offer the jury to either side for a price of $10 million.

Based on the John Grisham novel and directed by Gary Fleder, this movie provides solid entertainment but nothing truly remarkable. While it has the addition of a juror's point of view and the tampering of said jury, "Runaway Jury" hits with the same level of impact of a "Practice" episode. Not even a good one, just an average one at that. It even got Dylan McDermott to cameo as the murdered lawyer. The plot holes in the beginning and the preaching at the end didn't exactly help. Hackman's scenes as a forceful manipulator, not as the helpless fool, really worked well. But other than that, the performances by some big name stars were underwhelming, especially Hoffman, who as a principled attorney, sticks to his guns and as a result, doesn't get the juicy scenes Hackman and Cusack get. So watch the first half for the interesting parts but by the time the case gets rolling, you know what exactly will happen. 2.5 stars