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Runaway Jury | 2003 | PG-13 | - 4.4.5

A man is gunned down in his office by a disgruntled employee and the case is getting ready to go to trial. Dustin Hoffman plays the prosecutor, who does not believe in engaging in sophisticated processes in jury selection, while Gene Hackman is a slick and savvy jury selection specialist whose clients have never lost a case. Things get complicated when, after selection, the members of the jury begin switching from their original leanings. One of the jurors (John Cusack) is apparently successful in influencing the others, while his girlfriend (Rachel Weisz) is attempting to convince the attorneys to pay millions of dollars to have the jury return the verdict they want. Also with Bruce Davison and Jennifer Beals. Directed by Gary Fleder. [2:07]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - A man and a woman kiss, he pushes her back onto a bed, he lies on top of her, they kiss, and she removes her top (we see her bra straps). A man kisses a woman on the forehead. Women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A woman hits a man on the head with a bottle, he grabs her by the hair and throws her on the floor, she kicks him, he tries to strangle her, she gouges his eye, he throws her, he pulls a knife, and the woman stabs the man in the leg and then kicks him in the face. We hear gunfire in an office building, a man and a woman hide in one of the offices, a man opens the door and we see a bright flash (the man was shot and killed). We hear about a shooting at a school where nine persons were killed. A man throws papers in another man's face and punches him in the stomach when he is discovered in the man's apartment; the two men run into the street (they are nearly hit by cars), one man gets into a car and the other breaks his windshield with a pipe, and the man in the car speeds away nearly hitting the other man. We hear the details of a shooting in an office building in detail (11 were killed and 5 were wounded) and that the gunman shot himself also. A man smears himself with blood and yells in a court room, and he is wrestled to the ground by bailiffs. A woman lies unconscious on the floor of a restroom and she's covered with vomit (she has tried to overdose). A man breaks holes in a wall and tears up a floor in an apartment, then sets it on fire. We hear that a woman has had an abortion. A man grabs a woman's arm. A man yells and throws a phone in frustration. A man shoots skeet. A performer blows flames from his mouth.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 10 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 16 mild obscenities, 1 religious profanity, 4 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - People are shown smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Gun control, gun lobbies, gun manufacturers, mistrials, murder, responsibility, civic duty, spousal abuse, bribery, infidelity, justice, lawyers, disgruntled employees, the jury system, jury tampering, moral relativism, agnosticism, idealism.

MESSAGE - The American jury system can be manipulated very easily.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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