Runaway Jury film review

certificate_12A

RUNAWAY JURY

It needs only two words to convey almost everything you need to know about this movie: John Grisham. The bestselling author turns out well-crafted pulp fiction that resembles a McDonald's hamburger in that it's edible but neither nutritious nor sustaining, though like a Big Mac, it's incredibly popular. The one difference is that Ronald's fare is always the same, whereas Grisham's filmed works vary in quality. Runaway Jury is one of his lesser novels and in the hands of a director more concerned with style than content, is even less effective. What rescues it from dismissal is its heavyweight cast who successfully manage to distract you from the fact that the story is an implausible mess.

Runaway Jury is a typical John Grisham legal thriller in all respects but the title which doesn't contain the usual definitive article. Apart from dropping the word 'The' from the book's title, the other change is slightly more significant. The book dealt with a woman who sues the tobacco companies after her husband dies of lung cancer. In the film version the smoking issue is switched to the equally contentious gun topic as a widow takes a firearm company to court in an effort to prove they were responsible for her husband's murder at the hands of a crazed gunman.

When focusing on such a provocative topic as guns, you would hope some kind of meaningful discourse would take place, but save for a few glib homilies, the case could have just as well have been about anything. By switching from the book's original theme, things have got a little murky. Grisham, who knows his legal field so well and is a master at engaging us in its nefarious doings and characters, is usually more attentive to accuracy, so it's to be assumed that the glaring holes and flaws in Runaway Jury's plot are the responsibility of director Gary Fleder and the numerous screenwriters.

As Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), the masterful jury consultant hired by the firearm company to insure victory, points out "trials are too important to be left up to jurors." Especially in such a high profile and pivotal case. It's why his crack team go to extraordinary lengths to profile every potential juror in the trial for their suitability. Likewise the plaintiff's attorney, the principled Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), is equally aware of the importance of jury selection, although his resources only stretch to the less imposing consultant, Lawrence Green (Jeremy Piven).