Directed by Gary Fleder • 2003 • United States
Starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman

One of the best film adaptations of a John Grisham novel, this gripping legal thriller pits Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman against each other as, respectively, an upstanding Southern lawyer and the ruthlessly unethical jury consultant attempting to tamper with the course of justice. When a young widow in New Orleans brings a civil suit against the powerful corporate consortium she holds responsible for her husband’s murder, she sets in motion a multimillion-dollar case. It’s a suit that may be won even before it begins, however, based solely on the selection, manipulation, and ultimately, the attempted “theft” of the jury.