ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602040004
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: JACKIE POTTS KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
Demi Moore is a husky-voiced single mom bullied by the husky-voiced Alec Baldwin in ``The Juror,'' a suspense thriller so laughable that everyone connected with it ought to be dismissed.
If you caught last year's ``Trial by Jury,'' starring Armand Assante and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, you'll know what to expect here. A forthright single mom (Moore) with a young son (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is picked to sit on the jury of a murder case involving a notorious mobster, who sends his henchman (Baldwin) to terrorize her into throwing the verdict.
With his lapis blue eyes and prep-school looks, Baldwin is the prettiest mafioso yet with the silliest street name. They call him The Teacher, a fellow thug explains, because when you see him, ``school's out.''
Teacher, it seems, takes his new pupil's education a little too seriously. He wires her house with surveillance equipment and likens their adversarial relationship to a ``marriage.'' To scare her, he takes her for a drive, during which he puts on another man's coke-bottle glasses and drives really fast around some very, curvy roads. Ooooooh. Can't you just feel the tension?
Perhaps ``The Juror's'' worst offense, besides sheer silliness and poor acting, is the way the script cheats. One minute, the jury is sequestered, the next minute it isn't. One minute, Moore is a tender, loving mother, the next minute she's shrieking at her son for cutting up the newspaper. When Moore takes a flight to Guatemala City with Baldwin in hot pursuit, you know the film has left reality completely in the dust.
The Juror *
A Columbia release playing at Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Mall 6. 120 min. Rated R for vulgar language, violence, nudity, sexual situations.
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Alec Baldwin plays a mobster hired to intimidate Demiby CNBMoore in ``The Juror.'' color.