The Juror
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBrian Gibson
Screenplay byTed Tally
Based onThe Juror
by George Dawes Green
Produced byIrwin Winkler
Starring
CinematographyJamie Anderson
Edited byRobert M. Reitano
Music byJames Newton Howard
Production
company
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • February 2, 1996 (1996-02-02)
Running time
118 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$44 million[1]
Box office$63 million[2]

The Juror is a 1996 American legal thriller film based on the 1995 novel by George Dawes Green.[3] It was directed by Brian Gibson and stars Demi Moore as a single mother picked for jury duty for a mafia trial and Alec Baldwin as a mobster sent to intimidate her. The film received highly negative reviews and Moore won a joint Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for both her performance in this film and in Striptease.

Plot

Annie Laird is a talented sculptor living in New York City with her son Oliver. Although she works a day job as a data entry clerk, Annie has a strong passion for her art and is determined to make a living from it. Her dreams come true just as she is chosen to be one of the jurors in a high-profile trial of mafia boss Louie Boffano, who is accused of ordering the murder of Salvatore Riggio and his family including a young child. Annie's life is further complicated when Mark Cordell appears at her studio and buys three of her sculptures. He invites her to dinner and she is charmed by his attention. Little does she know that Mark is a hitman known as "The Teacher", Boffano's enforcer and the actual perpetrator of Riggio's murder. When Annie finds out the truth, she is horrified. Mark threatens her and her son's life unless she convinces the jury to acquit Boffano. Faced with this impossible situation, Annie finds herself in a desperate fight for survival.

Annie had been living in fear that Boffano, would be acquitted despite the evidence against him. She told her best friend, Juliet who is a doctor and attempted to quit jury duty by faking her son a sickness. However she changed her mind and as a warning, Mark took her for her drive and almost killed Oliver to scare her. During the trial, she was scared to take the stand, but despite her fears, she managed to convince the jury to acquit Boffano which made Mark infatuated towards her. After the trial, Boffano questioned whether Annie should disappear, seeing her as a loose end, but Mark and Eddie convinced him otherwise. To keep Annie under his control by instilling fear, Mark then went after Annie's friend Juliet. After luring her in with false promises, Mark revealed himself to be Annie's stalker and pulled a gun on her. He forced Juliet to take a fatal drug overdose and boasted of her murder to Eddie. Unlike Mark, Eddie was sympathetic to Annie, as he was a parent himself. Mark's cruel act had sealed the fate of Annie and her friend Juliet.

Annie is determined to keep her son safe, so she takes him to the small village of T'ui Cuch, in Guatemala. She hopes that by hiding out there, Oliver will be safe from the danger that has engulfed their lives. The prosecutor, who has figured out that Annie was threatened by Mark, wants her to turn state's witness so they can bring him to justice and prevent him from taking over the Boffano empire. Annie is scared of the consequences of testifying against Mark, but eventually decides that it's the right thing to do to ensure her son's safety. She contacts the prosecutor and agrees to testify, setting in motion a chain of events that will hopefully bring justice to those who have wronged her and her son.

Annie had been working with the prosecutor for weeks, trying to gather evidence against Mark. She had done all the research and had a feeling she could get him to confess and incriminate himself. After much convincing, the prosecutor agreed to let Annie wear a wire in a scheduled meeting with Mark. Annie was apprehensive, but determined to get the job done. On the day of the meeting, Annie removed the wire and gave it to Eddie, insinuating they were now a couple. She then entered the meeting and got Mark to boast about his ambitions which include killing Boffano. It was revealed later that Annie cleverly had a second hidden tape recorder on her person, and was able to record the conversation. After the meeting, Annie gave the tape to Boffano, who scheduled a meeting with Mark through Eddie.

Boffano's plan to take down Mark who is later revealed to be named Vincent, had backfired in the worst way possible. After a heated confrontation with Vincent, Boffano and his son Joseph, along with their henchmen, were all killed. Eddie, Boffano's associate, had his throat slashed by Mark in a fit of rage. All of this was motivated by Mark's discovery that Annie, his first love, had betrayed him and was working with Boffano to take him down. Mark was so enraged by the betrayal that he called Annie, revealing his intention to travel to Guatemala and kill Oliver.

Annie had traveled to Guatemala for a purpose that soon became clear: a showdown with Mark. Oliver, who had been fleeing from Mark, ran into a structure nearby and Mark followed him in close pursuit. Before either of them could get to the other, however, the locals fired multiple shots at Mark, taking him down. Annie, who had also been armed, took the opportunity to fire six more shots at Mark, ensuring that he was no longer a threat. Mark had attempted to shoot Annie with a gun pulled from his ankle holster but thankfully, the shots had not succeeded. Oliver was unharmed and Annie had successfully protected him from the dangerous Mark.

Cast

Production

Columbia Pictures acquired the film rights to the unpublished book for $1.5 million. They then paid Ted Tally over $1 million to write the screenplay.[4]

Reception

Critical response

The Juror was a critical failure. It holds a 22% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's consensus states: "Self-serious despite its abundance of trite twists, The Juror is a drab thriller that audiences may hold in contempt."[5] Moore won a joint Razzie Award for Worst Actress for both her performance in this film and in Striptease. She was also nominated for the same joint award at the 1996 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards but lost to Whoopi Goldberg for Theodore Rex, Eddie, and Bogus. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on a scale of A+ to F.[6]

Box office

The film grossed $22.7 million in the United States and Canada and $63 million worldwide,[7][2] against its $44 million budget.

References

  1. ↑ "The Juror (1996) - Financial Information".
  2. 1 2 "Top 100 worldwide b.o. champs". Variety. January 20, 1997. p. 14.
  3. ↑ George Dawes Green (1995-01-01). The Juror. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780446518857.
  4. ↑ Frook, John Evan (May 9, 1994). "Ted's tally: $1 mil to pen 'Juror' for Winkler, Col". Variety. p. 30.
  5. ↑ The Juror at Rotten Tomatoes
  6. ↑ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  7. ↑ The Juror at Box Office Mojo
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.