Is there such a thing as an impartial jury? “Not if I can help it,” Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) says jovially in “Runaway Jury,” a sharp courtroom thriller based on John Grisham's 1996 best seller. The movie marks a return to greener days for Grisham adaptations. Days when films like “The Firm” or “The Pelican Brief” gathered lots of buzz and lots of A-list stars. The A-list stars are back in “Runaway Jury” — along with Hackman, there's Dustin Hoffman and John Cusack — and so is the kind of winning escapist entertainment his name once promised. Fitch is the expensive top gun for a gun company in New Orleans that's been hit with a suit by the widow of a man who was one of 11 people killed in an office rampage. Fitch's specialty is jury selection. Hand him a pool of potential jurors and he'll hand you back a detailed profile of each one of them. Further, he'll advise you on who you want on your jury and who you don't. It's not exactly rigging a jury, but it's close. Representing the plaintiff is Wendell Rohr (Hoffman), a New Orleans attorney with questionable taste in clothes and an unquestioning faith in the jury system. And then there's Cusack as Nick Easter, reluctant juror No. 9, who has his own agenda. Working with a partner, Marlee (Rachel Weisz), outside the jury room, he has a scheme available to both sides, for a price. “Runaway Jury” isn't really about the gun debate. It's too one-sided. The gun guys are selfish fat cats who'll do whatever it takes to win this landmark case, while gun-control advocates are invariably honest, hardworking and principled. The widow even has a now-fatherless 6-year-old son. Rather, it's about jury tampering. Those who know the book will note that the battleground has been changed from a case against a tobacco company, but the moral parameters remain the same. In one amusing exchange, Rohr comments on Fitch's “swank” shoes. “Big tobacco,” Fitch replies with a smile, adding, “Like the suit? Gun lobby.” The picture goes soft when it explores Nick and Marlee's motives and, unfortunately, near the end, it decides it wants to tackle the gun issue after all. But for the most part, director Gary Fleder focuses on the inherent dramatic charge of a courtroom drama with a twist. Roommates when they were struggling actors in New York in the '60s, Hoffman and Hackman have never worked together until now. They've both been given the kind of roles they like — Hackman as a flashy, wisecracking villain, Hoffman as an unflashy, idealistic liberal. Better than both, perhaps, is Cusack, who uses his “regular guy” quality like a shiv. Watching him cozy up to individual jurors is like watching a wolf among lambs.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE