Sterling cast elevates legal mumbo-jumbo

Cinematic adaptations of John Grisham novels can go one of three ways -- the good (A Time to Kill), the bad (The Firm) and the ugly (The Chamber). Well, the verdict's out on his latest, Runaway Jury, and it's acquitted of not sucking. Sadly, the flick is undeniably guilty of being ham-fisted, manipulative, biased and too slick for its own good. But that's not to say it's meritless.\nJohn Cusack more than ably headlines as Nicholas Easter, a slack-ass video game store clerk whose life is thrown into upheaval when he's called for jury duty. Try as he may to get booted from the case -- a tearful widow (Joanna Going) suing a gun manufacturer (subbing for the book's Big Tobacco baddies) for selling the semi-automatic weapon used to murder her Ward Cleaver-esque husband (Dylan McDermott) -- he's placed smack-dab in the middle of the jury box.\nAs it turns out, this is exactly where he wants to be. Alongside his gal pal Marlee (the slyly sexy Rachel Weisz), Easter plots to use his wily charms to sway fellow jurors in his favor. His favor resides with either nice-guy attorney Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) or Machiavellian jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) and his pro-gun lawyer lackey (Bruce Davison), whichever is willing to pony up $10 million for their desired verdict.\nFresh ground this isn't, but a top-tier cast elevates said material to exciting new heights. Cusack once again proves he's one of our generation's best and most accessible actors, instilling the morally ambiguous Easter with nuanced humanity. Real-life former roommates Hackman and Hoffman (sporting a Louisiana accent no less) are a joy to behold. This, their first film together, provides the duo with a riveting restroom face-off that's extraneous to the plot but too cool to miss. Weisz, an actress who's very much coming into her own, more than pulls her weight amid such heavy hitters. \nDirector Gary Fleder, despite doing predominantly solid work here, is a hack. Runaway Jury is a marked improvement from his previous exercises in mediocrity, e.g. Kiss the Girls and Don't Say a Word. His stints directing TV cop shows "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "The Shield" are stylistically apparent, but unnecessary. \nIf you're longing to see a movie concerning gun control, go rent Bowling for Columbine. If it's a courtroom drama for which you're hankering, 12 Angry Men and The Verdict should certainly suffice. While entertaining and well acted, Runaway Jury isn't all it should've been.