Runaway Jury (2003)

Director:

Gary Fleder

Writers (WGA):

John Grisham (novel)
Brian Koppelman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Trials are too important to be decided by juries.

Plot:

A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.

Plot Keywords:

Jury | Gun | Lawyer | Trial | Court

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

John Cusack	...	Nicholas Easter
Gene Hackman	...	Rankin Fitch
Dustin Hoffman	...	Wendell Rohr
Rachel Weisz	...	Marlee
Bruce Davison	...	Durwood Cable
Bruce McGill	...	Judge Harkin
Jeremy Piven	...	Lawrence Green
Nick Searcy	...	Doyle
Stanley Anderson	...	Henry Jankle
Cliff Curtis	...	Frank Herrera
Nestor Serrano	...	Janovich
Leland Orser	...	Lamb
Jennifer Beals	...	Vanessa Lembeck
Gerry Bamman	...	Herman Grimes
Joanna Going	...	Celeste Wood

Also Known As:

Le maître du jeu (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Das Urteil (Germany) [de]
Das Urteil - Jeder ist käuflich (Germany) [de]
De utvalda (Sweden) [sv]
El jurado (Spain) [es]
Isepäine vandekogu (Estonia) [et]
Jüri (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Juryen (Denmark) [da]
La giuria (Italy) [it]
New Orleans Trial (Japan: English title) [en]
O Júri (Brazil) [pt]
Tribunal en fuga (Argentina) [es]
Valamiehet (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and thematic elements.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40050)

Filming Locations:

Esplanade Mall - 1401 West Esplanade, Kenner, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Regency Enterprises

Trivia:

Nick and Marlee meet in a voodoo shop where the Creole shopkeeper only speaks French. The movie conveys the image of the City still being mostly French speaking, but the French-only speaking Creole population in New Orleans is practically extinct.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Fitch meets the gun company men, a chessboard is shown. The game is already started (the white Queen and the white King are in wrong start position). In the next shots, after some seconds, the chessboard shows the chess pieces in the start position (and the white Queen is finally in the correct square).

Quotes:

Judge Harkin: I'm not sure, but I believe I'm buying lunch.

Movie Connections:

References Beetle Juice (1988)

Soundtrack:

When the Saints Go Marching in

Flimsy yet well acted.

Well acted yet flimsy adaptation of the John Grisham novel lacks a well rounded script to carry itself but has an amazing cast that lifts this mediocre film past its problems and into respectability. The script has way too many loop holes in logic to even take what you are seeing seriously and the directing lacks a sharp narrative to get across what it's trying to say. The acting is the only major thing that this film excels on and with out it, this would have been a cable movie of the week at best. Gene Hackman is great as a jury consultant who would stop at nothing to win a case and Rachel Weisz is amazing as his adversary in and out of the courtroom. Dustin Hoffman is great as well but he is not in the movie as much as advertise and John Cusack is decent for the role he has. The biggest fault the movie does have is the fact that certain plot points disappear during the course of the film as well as characters. It's a great way to spend two hours of your time, especially with the great performances of Gene Hackman and Rachel Weisz to keep you glued to what is happening but the movie has a lot of glaring problems that makes it hard to sit though in certain parts.