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

Release Year: 2003

Rating: 7.1/10 (44,300 voted)

Critic's Score: 61/100

Director: Gary Fleder

Stars: John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman

Storyline
Wendell Rohr is a torts lawyer taking on the gun lobby. Rankin Fitch is the jury consultant for the Defendants and between them the battle is for the hearts and minds of the jury. But there is someone on the inside. Nicholas Easter is a juror with a girlfriend, Marlee, on the outside. they have a past ..... and their own agenda.

Writers: John Grisham, Brian Koppelman

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

Taglines: Trials are too important to be decided by juries.

Release Date: 17 October 2003

Filming Locations: Esplanade Mall - 1401 West Esplanade, Kenner, Louisiana, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $11,836,705 (USA) (19 October 2003) (2815 Screens)

Gross: $67,338,219 (Worldwide) (2004)

Runtime: 127 min

Trivia:
At the beginning of the movie when John Cusack's character sees the maintenance man, the man is smoking a cigarette. Cusack tells him he should quit smoking. This pays tribute to the book, which was based around cigarette companies instead of gun makers.

Goofs:
Continuity: In the first scene when the defense and plaintiff first walk into the courtroom, the defense sets the rigged briefcase on the table as he walks to the table. In the very next shot they show a close-up of him setting the briefcase in place from a sitting position.

Quotes:
Doyle: It's a set-up.

Flimsy yet well acted.

Rating:

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.

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