tnsmile I really like this movie - it is a 90's thriller, not smash 'em up or shoot 'em up. A good plot. Relatively good performances from the cast - it held my attention. I miss thrillers like this.

NateWatchesCoolMovies The Juror is a lurid little crime/courtroom thriller from the 90's that features Alec Baldwin in one of his then frequent asshole roles, Demi Moore in a solid lead and a startlingly young Joseph Gordon Levitt as her son. It's silly in places, sensationalistic in others, but manages to hold attention with its thrills most of the time, which are of the brash variety that only that decade could achieve. Moore plays a struggling artist who is selected as a juror in the trial of a high profile mafia Don (Tony Lo Bianco). No sooner than day one of the proceedings, she is harassed, terrorized and blackmailed by a nasty piece of work known as 'The Professor' (Baldwin), a boorish thug with delusions of eloquence, employed by the Don to see that the jury swings his way in the end. Baldwin tears into his role like a velociraptor, voraciously careening through the film like a bull in a china shop. Moore brings her introspective innocence, and Levitt is a bright eyed young chap in what is probably one of his first roles. James Gandolfini is a supporting standout as Baldwin's uneasy accomplice, and there's work from Michael Constantine, Matt Craven, Lindsay Crouse and Anne Heche as well. Won't knock your socks off, but a good time nonetheless, and worth a peek just to see Baldwin nearly give himself an aneurysm trying to out-crazy himself.

SnoopyStyle Mobster Louie Boffano (Tony Lo Bianco) is on trial for murder. Annie Laird (Demi Moore) is an artist selected as a juror in the big trial. She and her son Oliver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is soon being tracked by mob muscle Eddie (James Gandolfini). She's wine-and-dine by a rich art dealer but he turns out to be someone working for Boffano. He's known as "The Teacher" (Alec Baldwin). She is shocked at his veiled threats against Oliver and her friend Juliet (Anne Heche).This is a bunch of very broad characters in a wannabe thriller. Moore as the protective mother is functional. Baldwin is good when he's creepy but he loses something as a maniac. Gandolfini does some good acting that foreshadows better things to come for him. The story needs to be simplified. The first half is fine but the movie deteriorates. When the trial finishes, the movie needs a reason to go on, and on, and on. So the movie change the driving force from the trial to a psycho Teacher. The change lost me a little and I stopped caring.

eric262003 Over the years of watching movies, there are two types of movies that stand out above all. The ones that are beyond excellent, and those that that are complete garbage. The ones that teeter between not entirely bad, but really all that good become left out like a sore thumb. Brian Gibson's "The Juror" based on a novel by George Dawes Green falls in the category of forgettable average films even though it stars a cast of very talented performers like Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Heche and James Gandolfini. It's a very easy film to keeping its obscure status because it's overall a mediocre film that leans more towards a bad mediocre than a good one with some rather absurd characters complimented with an even more absurd story that goes way off kilter at times. Demi Moore stars as a sculptor names Annie Laird who's been assigned to stand as a juror on the trial of a hardened Mafia crime boss, only to fell her life and her young son Oliver (Joseph Gordon Levitt)are in jeopardy. A minion of his known only as "The Teacher" (Alec Baldwin) convinces her to plead "Not Guilty". Even after the trail folds, her and her son's life are still in the balance which leads to her taking care of business herself, personally. The intensity level of the story here is really not that bad considering that a juror was forced to overrule a decision by a Mafia minion. The suspense even after the trial with her still being under the threat still sends chills up my spine after viewing it for the first time in many years. It's what you would expect in a bone-chilling suspense thriller. But the script by Ted Tally was badly executed making the story awfully surreal. The characters just don't match nicely to the story-line and charge up the tense dramatic scenes goes way out of proportions to the point where it unintentionally becomes more laughable. Even the opening scenes where Annie has the chance to bow of the trial is very awkwardly built up. I personally would not ever consider stepping up to such a situation knowing that your life and your loved one's lives would be in jeopardy. It just seems odd that Annie seems more determined to through with it makes her at times be kind of a daft individual. Her enthusiasm makes doesn't give much sympathy to her situation as she gladly agrees to the trial and that a mob henchman is breathing down her and Oliver's neck unless she pleads "Not Guilty" to the judge. And to make matters worse she eventually takes matters in her own hands as she decides to confront the Mafia without realizing what these guys are capable of. The surrealist structuring isn't with just the protagonists, but the antagonists as well. Alec Baldwin's character Marc "The Teacher" Cordell is meant to be a chilling, cold-blooded remorseless killer, he doesn't come across that cerebral. Granted Baldwin does a good job of making this man a cool and collected individual, but it seems his motives are not fully functioning at times. I'm not condemning Moore or Baldwin in any way; they give a good performances in what's given to them, but the motives between the leading hero and villain just don't hit the right cords. Surely, to have a compelling ending, you have to mold the ending with some rather bizarre twists that are not always plausible. And in the genre of suspenseful thrillers, it should come as no surprise. Sadly, in "The Juror", the results are not thrilling, but just plain dumb and quite unconvincing. If it would've had a conclusion similar to the like of "Runaway Jury", then this movie would've had a better outcome. If they would have gone with Annie overturning the judge's decision, then I wouldn't be ranting too much on this movie. The supporting cast behind Moore and Baldwin, fail to add any impression on me. Joseph Gordon-Levitt who would later climb to bigger and better things later in his career, was quite good as innocent child put in precarious situation by his naive mother. James Ganolfini who would later on become the iconic Tony Soprano was near perfect as mob henchman Eddie was really not offered much to do and Anne Heche's Juliet is only as a clichéd sex symbol as she gets jazzy with The Teacher. It's like as if it's never been done before. At long last all I can say is that "The Juror" was an unsatisfying thriller that was let down by the characters and a story structure that loses its direction and tarnishes in what could have potentially been a very exciting thriller. The effort to boost excitement was put-off because they took a wrong turn in direction making this movie contrived and stupid instead of a chilling surprise ending which this film had the potential to achieve.