Le 12ème juré

This improbable thriller about a woman juror (Whaley) who is kidnapped (and worse) in order to coerce her into voting to acquit a mob boss (Assante) who is on trial for murder, was better than I expected it to be. The plot is preposterous but the performances are excellent, particularly Hurt's as an alcoholic ex-cop who does part time work for the mobster. The appropriate time to watch this movie would be Saturday morning. Nevertheless, it is all right. I gave it a "6."

TRIAL BY JURY is an example of a movie that doesn't realize how funny it is. Take the scene where Joann Whalley-Kilmer is seduced by Armand Assante, although he is leering at her sleazily the whole time Assante is on trial.(she is a jury member, see) Then things get real silly with all the plot twists, and a real hammy slow-burn performance by Gabriel Byrne. I caught the film one day on pay cable, and once again recently on TNT, and the funniest thing was, the actors kept a straight face the whole time.

Which brings me to Whalley-Kilmer. Who gave her this Ashley Judd part? Not to say that Whalley-Kilmer isn't game in her part as the dumbest-smartest jury member in the world. But Judd is much better at making these unbelievable legal "thrillers" bareable(i.e. DOUBLE JEAPORDY). I love when Hollywood makes a film that it doesn't know is as funny as it is.

This film is so much better than The Juror. William Hurt is outstanding as a conflicted man, Kathleen Quinlan is amazingly creepy in her role, the tension between Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and the others, Armand Assante in particular, is emotional and well done. You will feel her isolation and fear. You will feel Gabriel Byrne's frustration as he tries to catch the mob boss and and work within the law only to have the legal system perverted by the influence of that mob. You will see how his character, who grew up with the mobster (Assante) could easily have gone in that direction. It has a great supporting cast with people like Joe Santos, Ed Lauter and Margaret Whitton. The film is also done in a film noir style. If you like classy films, you'll love it.

I discovered this film while searching for laserdiscs. It's a good way to find forgotten gems. TBJ is a crime film that never becomes tiresome mostly due to the fantastic emotionally alluring portrayal of a single mom by Joanne Whalley. She's your average girl stuck in a mess with a megalomaniac king pin. Fortunately for the viewer her body is not average, giving her character that added, "I don't know I'm sexy" vibe. Armand Assante turns in a great performance as he easily puts out charm and terror with a simple stoic glance. The root of the film which is the two worlds colliding, gets delivered with believability.

The real gritty hoots of the film are William Hurt playing a twisted x cop that still has remnants of good in him and the ever delectable Kathleen Quinlan as a quirky sot. I really liked the script. The seedy undercurrent feel that the film has is captured with words that give an inner chuckle and a solid outer grimace. Some courtroom antics are quite stagey but those scenes can be muscled through if you like the genre. TBJ is not a routine crime thriller and throws some very interesting entertainment punches.

Pirone (Armand Assante) is a mob boss being brought to trial by DA Graham (Gabriel Bryne). When the star witness is whacked Graham replaces him with another mob boss. Pirone targets once of the jury, a single mother Valerie (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) using dirty ex-cop Vesey (William Hurt) to get close to her. Valerie must hang the jury or risk her and her son being killed.

This is a solid mob courtroom thriller with a edge. The story is interesting because you're not sure how Whalley-Kilmer will deal with the situations she is put in - it is quite tense for most of the movie. The actors are all good, Hurt especially plays against type with his shady dirty cop, Bryne does well but Whalley-Kilmer is not that good. Given the demands of the lead character Valerie it may have benefited from a better actress - that said she carries off the innocent single mother role convincingly. All the mob roles are played by actors who you'll see in lots of other gangster flicks including Goodfellas, The Sopranos etc. Some other interesting faces appear - William R. Moses of Perry Mason TVM "fame" appears as a jury, while David Cronenberg has a walk-on part as a film director.

While Whalley-Kilmer doesn't totally convince in Valerie's character change towards the films conclusion the majority of the plot holds together well. If you've seen Demi Moore in "The Juror" then this is similar in plot but "Trial by Jury" is a much stronger film.