'Runaway Jury' tampers with novel

Friday, October 17, 2003

By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Runaway Jury," the 1996 John Grisham novel, demonized cigarette makers. Big Tobacco in 2003? Been there, sued and settled that. Besides, Russell Crowe already played an industry whistleblower in the excellent film "The Insider."

	'Runaway Jury' Rating: PG-13 for violence, language, thematic elements Starring: John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman Director: Gary Fleder

"Runaway Jury," the movie, instead takes on the gun industry, which makes and sells assault weapons, the sort that can allow a day trader to walk into a New Orleans office and kill a dozen people in two minutes. Among those shot to death is a stockbroker (Dylan McDermott, in cameo) who leaves behind a wife and young son.

The action then jumps ahead two years, as lawyer Wendall Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) is preparing to go to trial against the gun manufacturer on behalf of the widow and a 6-year-old boy. On the opposite side of the aisle is a lawyer (Bruce Davison) who does the bidding of his jury consultant (Gene Hackman), a successful, impeccably dressed shark named Rankin Fitch.

Fitch doesn't just watch from the courtroom and recommend or reject a potential juror. He corrupts the process by obtaining the names of the residents summoned for jury duty and setting up a high-tech command center in the old French Quarter. He supervises a staff that digs up dirt on potential panelists; they use it during the selection process or squirrel it away for future blackmail.

As Fitch likes to say, in just one of his pithy or provocative pronouncements, "Trials are too important to be left up to juries."

Among those summoned for jury duty is Nick Easter (John Cusack), a somewhat mysterious guy who works at an electronics store in a nearby mall. Although he seems to want nothing more than to escape jury duty, he and his girlfriend (Rachel Weisz) are thrilled when he's seated as Juror No. 9.

And then the trial and games really begin, with opposing counsel receiving anonymous notes declaring, "Jury for sale." The behind-the-scenes maneuvering starts to resemble a high-stakes chess game, as jurors are being moved around an invisible board and the price for a verdict keeps rising.

"Runaway Jury," directed by Gary Fleder ("Don't Say a Word") and credited to four screenwriters, has a little bit of a "Heat" problem. Not heat, but "Heat," the 1995 cops-and-crooks sizzler that starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro but kept them apart for much of the movie. When they finally had a coffee shop sitdown, the energy was electric.

Hoffman and Hackman appear in the same courtroom but they exchange dialogue in only one scene. The two delicious exchanges between Cusack and Hackman leave you wanting more. Hoffman, Hackman and Cusack are never together at the same time, unless you count the courtroom in which they're scattered throughout.

Hoffman, adding a shaky sheen of a Southern accent, is given little quirks for his lawyer -- purposely spilling mustard on his tie, lest the jury think he's too natty and slick. Hackman's consultant is all about manipulation, money and a winning record, while Cusack's juror finally comes into focus by the twister of an ending.

Read enough Grisham books and you may be one step ahead of the story. "Runaway Jury" is given to glib observations about lawyers, juries and justice, but the cast makes it worth watching, even if the characters are too often served as single ingredients instead of a fully mixed movie meal. But you will pause the next time you open your mailbox and pull out a jury summons ...

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