The Juror -

Meandering hodgepodge of a courtroom/mafia thriller that makes you long for the shortness and efficiency of real jury duty. Demi Moore stars as Annie Laird, a single mother and part time tactile sculptor, who decides to serve on the jury of Louie Boffano (a mafia boss accused of murder). For reasons unstated in the film, she is singled out as the juror to lean on. In comes Alec Baldwin, as a behind-the-scenes powerhouse in the mafia, called the Teacher, to persuade, threaten, and otherwise lean on Annie for her vote of Not Guilty. However, that turns out to not be enough. She must then, in several scenes derivative of 12 Angry Men, persuade the entire jury over to her side. Yet the movie doesn’t end yet there…no, in fact, it is merely half over, with several mafia hits, acts of vigilante justice, and sidetracks to Guatemala to go. Baldwin is suitably menacing as the Teacher, and Moore looks vulnerable and pathetic, but the problem lies with the script and direction. The writers had too many concepts, and not enough imagination. Brian Gibson’s direction give up hopelessly to the sluggish and wandering script. There are elements of suspense here and there that hint at a good movie…but they don’t go much beyond hints.