Film

Obey the summons to 'Jury' duty

Talented actors hold court in this updated Grisham tale.

[Photo: Twentieth Century Fox]

Juror Nick Easter, played by John Cusack, races to stop the machinations of a ruthless jury consultant in Runaway Jury.

[Photo: Twentieth Century Fox]

Attorney Wendell Rohr, played by Dustin Hoffman, left, confronts jury consultant Rankin Fitch, played by Gene Hackman, in Runaway Jury.

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A trial by jury of our peers is the cornerstone of the U.S. legal system. But if the people selected to decide the fate of a defendant are truly peers, then they have the same foibles, the same potential for poor judgment and outside influences that may have contributed to the transgressions in question. Novelist John Grisham took that notion and ran with it in the 1996 bestseller The Runaway Jury, now adapted for the movies - aren't all of Grisham's books? - by four screenwriters and director Gary Fleder. The result is a crackling yarn, rich with fine performances, genuine surprises and the kind of deft implausibility that we're not entirely sure is out of the question.

Dropping the "the" in Grisham's title isn't the only change Fleder made to the book. Runaway Jury, the movie, also changes the case at hand from a wrongful death lawsuit against a tobacco company to one against a gun manufacturer. Already the nicotine police are moaning, but the courts decided several of those cases since the book's publication, so a change was necessary to establish tension.

Opening scenes in Runaway Jury establish the case: A stockbroker in New Orleans (Dylan McDermott) and 11 co-workers are gunned down by a disgruntled employee. His widow sues the gunmaker. The case is so inflammatory that gun lobbyists hire high-powered jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) to pick 12 jurors most likely to vote for the defendant. How he does it, with a battery of surveillance techniques and sheer instinct, is fascinating.

One wild card slips past Fitch into the stacked jury. Nick Easter (John Cusack) initially appears reluctant to serve but that's just the opening gambit in a complex plot to commandeer the jury. Why? For money, obviously, plus another reason that isn't apparent until a domino finale.

Fitch and Easter meet only briefly, but their antagonism is palpable throughout Runaway Jury. Credit Hackman and Cusack, two of the most placidly credible (or sneaky) actors working today. They don't need to do much to convey a lot. Both characters have unsavory agendas yet both maintain our curiosity and even some sympathy.

But this is a Grisham-based movie, so the meaty roles don't end there. Dustin Hoffman co-stars as prosecuting attorney Wendell Rohr, a role without the actor's usual challenges but a chance to act on film for the first time with his former roommate, Hackman. Rachel Weisz ably plays the mysterious Marlee, Nick's outside accomplice. Bruce Davison is the defense attorney at the mercy of Fitch's mechanics, and Bruce McGill makes a nice impression as the judge who thinks he's in charge of his courtroom.

Fleder and cinematographer Robert Elswit (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) make the most of Big Easy locales, opening up the drama beyond the court house, embellishing it with shadowy streets and courtly atmosphere looking friendlier than it truly is. The city's charade mirrors the legal deceit, a blend of location and drama as vital as the dark Boston locales for Mystic River.

Sure, some of the tumblers fall too easily in place. Some jurors have convenient secrets coming back to haunt them. The whole idea of someone like Fitch being able to accomplish what he does is hard to fathom. The motive for Nick and Marlee's actions seems almost anticlimactic and dubiously complex for such a rushed conclusion. By that time, however, Fleder is guilty of nothing less than popcorn filmmaking in the first degree.

Runaway Jury

Grade: B+

Director: Gary Fleder

Cast: John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz, Bruce Davison, Bruce McGill, Jeremy Piven, Bill Nunn, Nora Dunn, Dylan McDermott

Screenplay: Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Rick Cleveland, Matthew Chapman, based on the novel by John Grisham

Rating: PG-13; profanity, violence, mature themes

Running time: 118 min.