Runaway Jury (2003)

All Critics (167) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (120) | Rotten (45) | DVD (41)

[T]his film ranks just below The Firm and The Client on the list of John Grisham-inspired thrillers, thumbs up.

October 27, 2003 Full Review

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

A lot of famous faces populate the courtroom in this overplotted and farfetched tale of jury-tampering, but they and the horse they rode in on are all so mired in illogical, head-scratching incoherence, they need lawyers of their own.

October 23, 2003 Full Review

Rex Reed

New York Observer

Top Critic

In spite of its cheesy plot twists, thoroughly second-rate direction, and criminally wasted ensemble, Runaway Jury adds up to a nice little gotcha! courtroom melodrama.

October 22, 2003 Full Review

David Edelstein

Slate

Top Critic

Fleder's direction confirms the impression left by his previous films, Don't Say a Word and Kiss the Girls among them, that he's a hack.

October 22, 2003 Full Review

Charles Taylor

Salon.com

Top Critic

A taut, escapist legal thriller.

October 17, 2003

Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

Top Critic

Efficient, precise, carefully calibrated and terrifically entertaining.

October 17, 2003

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Top Critic

Legal thriller isn't aimed at kids.

December 28, 2010 Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

The kind of bracing psychological thriller that makes a case for the battle of ideas being every bit as thrilling as a great fight scene.

June 16, 2007

Prairie Miller

Long Island Press

...the best cinematic rendering of a Grisham novel ever, which is either saying a quite lot or very little at all, depending upon your view of things Grisham.

January 29, 2005 Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Long after the more critically acclaimed dramas of 2003 are stuffed in a drawer and forgotten, it will still be delighting viewers in search of decent entertainment.

November 6, 2004 Full Review

Douglas Pratt

Movie City News

The film's action is limited to repeatedly ransacking Cusack's apartment, and the plot is rife with Big-Brother-is-watching paranoia.

October 16, 2004 Full Review

Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan

A frankly brilliant interpretation of a terrific story.

September 26, 2004 Full Review

Joe Utichi

FilmFocus

fast-paced and entertaining, but it doesn't have the sustained sense of menace of The Firm or the character development of The Pelican Brief

August 13, 2004

James Plath

Reel.com

The best Grisham adaptation yet, this one is definitely worth a look.

July 20, 2004 Full Review

Joe Utichi

FilmFocus

• 1. Rankin Fitch: Trials are too important to be left up to juries.
  – Submitted by Chris R (10 months ago)
• 1. Rankin Fitch: Everybody loses, just not me.
  – Submitted by John P (15 months ago)
• 1. Rankin Fitch: What do you hope to achieve if you win? You gonna bring Jacob Wood back to life? No. You just ensure that his wife goes to the cemetery in a better car, and that the heel that she snaps on the way to the graveside belongs to a $1,200 shoe. You get your name in the paper. But Jacob Wood and all the other gun violence victims remain rotting in their crypts.
  – Submitted by Lea L (23 months ago)
• 1. Rankin Fitch: Everybody has a secret they don't want you to find.
  – Submitted by Lea L (23 months ago)
• 1. Doyle: It's a set-up.
  – Submitted by Lea L (23 months ago)
• 1. Marlee: Anybody can be gotten to.
  – Submitted by Lea L (23 months ago)

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