COURTROOM THRILLER OR MERE TRIAL?Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic Basically the same slack courtroom thriller that "Trial by Jury" was a few years back, "The Juror juror n. any person who actually serves on a jury. Lists of potential jurors are chosen from various sources such as registered voters, automobile registration or telephone directories. " tries to juice up the proceedings with elements that seem borrowed from more effective shockers, like a deceptively resourceful, protective mother and an unhinged admirer. Call it "Cradle Attraction." Demi Moore Demi Kutcher (born Demetria Gene Guynes on November 11, 1962) is an American actress. For most of her career, she has been known as Demi Moore, using the surname of her first husband, singer-songwriter Freddy Moore. is Annie Laird, a suburban New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of single mom who, quite ridiculously, is intrigued by the idea of serving as a juror at a Mafia don's murder trial. She's quickly chosen by the crime boss's brilliant, electronically sophisticated and thoroughly insane operative, the Teacher (Alec Baldwin), for intimidation. Blending charm, threats and an unhinged affection for Annie, Teacher terrorizes the experimental artist (she makes "cop-a-feel" sculptures - don't ask) into swinging the jury in his obviously guilty employer's favor. And that's just the setup. Though it moves along in fits and starts, this preposterously plotted thriller (based on a book by George Dawes Green and scripted by "Silence of the Lambs' " Ted Tally Ted Tally (born April 9, 1952) is an Academy Award winning American playwright and screenwriter. Born Theodore Tally in North Carolina, Tally was educated at Yale College and the Yale School of Drama, and has also taught at each of them. ) eventually piles up such an imaginative load of double-crosses and counter-schemes that it actually becomes fun. But that's after more than an hour of a dressed-down Demi displaying, alternately, tough love for her endangered and uncomprehending son ("3rd Rock From the Sun's" Joseph Gordon-Levitt Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (born February 17, 1981) is an American actor. Gordon-Levitt began as a child actor, becoming known for his role on the series 3rd Rock from the Sun,[1] ) and, of course, tears. Meanwhile, Baldwin behaves like a graduate of the Richard Gere School of Mood Swing Acting, bouncing from calculating to romantic to maniacal ma·ni·a·cal or ma·ni·ac adj. Suggestive of or afflicted with insanity. as Teach tries to impress on Annie that killing everyone she cares about is his way of saying "I love you." One such incident involves forcing Annie's best pal (Anne Heche) to commit suicide. In the nude. Right after making love to her. I guess we're supposed to be encouraged by the way Hollywood is getting past its recent fascination with gratuitous rape scenes. Before he descended to such appalling trashiness, director Brian Gibson made a real movie about a woman who reclaimed her life from a dangerous man: the terrific Tina Turner biography, "What's Love Got to Do With It." "The Juror" serves up cartoonish caricatures of that film's issues, with a bunch of stereotype mobsters Mobsters is a 1991 crime drama detailing the creation of the National Crime Syndicate/The Commission. Set in New York City during the Prohibition era, it's a somewhat fictionalized account of rise of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" and a climax in Guatemala (Guatemala?) tossed in. THE FACTS The film: "The Juror" (R; violence, language, sex, nudity, drug use, children in jeopardy). The stars: Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Heche. Behind the scenes: Directed by Brian Gibson. Written by Ted Tally, based on George Dawes Green's book. Produced by Irwin Winkler Winkler may refer to:
Running time: Two hours. Playing: Citywide. Our rating: Two Stars. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo Demi Moore Serving as "Juror" |
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