 Critics are clearly having a difficult time reaching a verdict on Runaway Jury, based on the John Grisham novel and starring Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. Most agree, however, that a scene in a courtroom men's room in which the two appear together will be long remembered. Indeed, the reviewers have generally concluded that the performances overcome a fairly implausible story. As Joe Morgenstern puts it in the Wall Street Journal, the story "rarely fails to hold your interest, even though much of it doesn't hold water." And Jan Stuart in Newsday describes the tale as "more irresistibly preposterous courtroom fireworks from the factory of John Grisham" but then goes on to remark that the movie "hooks us with the sort of high-sheen acting professionalism that is usually forgotten at awards time." |
