Juror #2 **½ (2024, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J K Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland) – Classic Movie Review 13,223

Clint Eastwood’s intelligent and efficient 2024 American legal thriller film Juror #2 is written by Jonathan Abrams, and stars Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J K Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Producer/ director Clint Eastwood’s intelligent and efficient but contrived and unexciting 2024 American legal thriller film Juror #2 is written by Jonathan Abrams, and stars Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J K Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Nicholas Hoult stars as family man Justin Kemp, a journalist and recovering alcoholic, who struggles with a serious moral dilemma while serving as a juror in a murder trial, which he could use to sway the jury to convict or free the accused killer.

A year earlier, Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood) fought with her boyfriend James Sythe (Gabriel Basso) at a local bar, and was later found dead under a bridge. Sythe is on trial for her murder, with Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette) as prosecutor and Eric Resnick (Chris Messina) as the public defender. Justin becomes convinced he might have killed Kendall when he hit what he thought was a deer with his car on the night of her death.

Clint Eastwood’s courtroom thriller is a disappointment, starting interestingly but then stalling and finally lacking the big twist or big ending you’ve been patiently waiting for. The acting is way less showy than expected in an American legal thriller. OK that makes the film much more honest and real, but also a lot less fun.

The odd casting of two non-Americans Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in the main roles is not fully explained or justified, though both give quite good performances, maybe even very good. Both Hoult and Collette are always good company. The pair of course have good chemistry, well certainly history, having starred together 22 years ago in the 2002 hit About a Boy.

J K Simmons as ex-cop jury member Harold and Kiefer Sutherland as Kemp’s attorney Larry Lasker have promising characters to play but are given too little to do to make much of a significant impression. Zoey Deutch is very unsympathetic as Kemp’s heavily pregnant wife Ally Crewson, though that might be the role. But Amy Aquino scores strongly in the cast-iron role of Judge Thelma Hollub.

The jumbled-up issues and dilemmas in Jonathan Abrams’s original screenplay are many and various, but quite simple, certainly none too challenging, and put across in a fairly ordinary way. Yet the screenplay is a bit messy and muddled, occasionally repetitive and dull, and some of the dialogue too clearly issue-led. It doesn’t flow freely. The effort shows.

Clint Eastwood’s filming is very plain, or straightforward and businesslike if you prefer. There is, however, quite a bit of local flavour and atmosphere with the location filming at Savannah, Georgia. And, yes, some tension in the courtroom and jury room.

Though lacking enough spark and life, and that special something, Juror #2 is fairly entertaining, quite involving and watchable. It’s an efficient and proficient film.

Mark Mancina, who worked on Eastwood’s Cry Macho (2021) composes the efficient but unremarkable score.

Production began in June 2023 when Eastwood was 93 and post-production wrapped in April 2024. It was released on October 27, 2024 with its premiere on the closing night of the American Film Institute (AFI) Fest in Los Angeles.

Warner Bros gave the film a limited release on November 1, 2024 but there was a wide release in more than 300 cinemas in the UK.

Nicholas Hoult recalled about his reunion with Toni Collette: ‘It was beautiful. She is such a wonderful lady. She took such great care of me on About a Boy, so now, being grown up and a different person, it was strange being back with her, but I was very happy.’

Released: 2024-10-30

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime

Also in the cast: Chris Messina, Vincent Minutella, Adrienne C Moore, Rebecca Koon, Megan Mieduch.

Duration: 114 minutes.

Country: US.

Production: Malpaso Productions, Dichotomy Films, Warner Bros Pictures.

The cast are Nicholas Hoult as Justin Kemp, Zoey Deutch as Ally Crewson, Toni Collette as Faith Killebrew, Chris Messina as Eric Resnick, Kiefer Sutherland as Larry Lasker, Gabriel Basso as James Michael Sythe, Francesca Eastwood as Kendall Carter, J K Simmons as Harold, Amy Aquino as Judge Thelma Hollub, Leslie Bibb as Denice Aldworth, Cedric Yarbrough as Marcus, Adrienne C Moore as Yolanda, Chikako Fukuyama as Keiko, Zele Avradopoulos as Irene, and Drew Scheid as Brody.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,223

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