I enjoy a good mystery/intrigue thriller flick. I only wish this were one of them.

Rachel Weisz asks John Cusack, "Where is your sense of civic duty?" His reply, "I flunked civics." Same goes for the filmmakers of Runaway Jury, where the viewer should beware runaway liberalism.

In N'awlins, folks die at the barrel of a deranged gun that went on a killing spree. The inanimate object somehow made itself storm into a trading company and wipe out an entire floor of workers, all without anyone holding the handle and pulling the trigger.

Oh, wait, you mean there was a shooter? An actual human at fault? No, it has to be the EVIL gun manufacturers who specifically made that gun just to murder 11 people! So says Dustin Hoffman, so shall it be.

From the very first second we know Gene Hackman approaches, out comes the menacing score, letting us know that he is the enemy, the Prince of Darkness! Not only that, but he and his merry band of jury manipulators use all sorts of fancy technical equipment! Eeeviill!!!! "Trials are too important to be decided by juries," he snarls. Sinister!

Hoffman, though, is the goody-goody lawyer. I'm sure his halo was scrubbed in post-production, just to keep some illusion that the filmmakers don't have an agenda. Yep, who knew Hollywood would attempt to make us sympathize with trial lawyers? I'm not buying it.

In fact, they couldn't hide it, anyway. This is a one-sided movie, completely void of facts or law, relying solely on emotions, feelings and platitudes. All we heard was the prosecution's case. Not once did we actually hear the defense.

"I believe in a world without guns," Hoffman charmingly muses. Objection, your honor! Tell the Brits that, who have seen a rise in gun crimes following their expansive measures to ban private citizens from owning them.

Permission to browbeat the witness? Sustained.

The movie wants people to vote with their hearts and leave their minds and common sense stuck on the floor with the old candy and cola stains. Gosh, if only those Founding Father dudes had written the, um, whatchamacalit? Yeah, the Constitution, based on emotion, things would, you know, just be way cooler and all.

This movie should be saved for broadcast only on NPR (video not needed, audio sufficient) and in the background of Michael Moore anti-American bedwetter rallies.

The only things worth saving are the A-list actors, who never fail to contribute unblemished entertainment. Cusack is always on, as the reviewer in the Atlanta Journal-Constipation says, "Watching him cozy up to individual jurors is like watching a wolf among lambs."

Hackman confidently straddles the line between cheeky and scary; Hoffman provides the gooey proverbs and, of course, has no monetary interest in trials at all. Nice to see Hollywood veterans Hackman and Hoffman face off in one pleasant (in exchanging unpleasantness) meeting.

But the main saving grace is Rachel Weisz. Oh, yes, the lovely, lovely, Rachel. You (meaning I) cooed over her in The Mummy, now witness her doing the maneuvering rather than the damsel in distress. Mmmm. Great actress. Pretty, too!

That's it, though. For instance, do the clich�s ever end? The old white gun company presidents gather in a lodge, smoking cigars, and drinking liquor all the while surrounded by the carcasses of dead animals. Why not just put horns on all of the men? Where's the pitchfork in the corner? Wait, there's more! A wife of a Baptist minister had an affair and an abortion!

Puh-leeze. Sure, there's a twist, but it's all in an effort to saturate this potentially solid movie into mucky feel-good liberal gobbledy-gook.

Cusack doesn't even convince his fellow jurors that guns were the cause of the crime rather than a deranged person, instead he manipulates a former Marine into saying he doesn't want the defendant to have that much money since he doesn't. Yeah, let's just give anyone money who sues, because hey, she hurts, man! She been done wrong, and is entitled to the dough of gun companies because, dude, they're rich! And if they�re rich, it must mean that they�re eeevviiill!!!!!

Grisham novels are generally turned into decent legal thrillers. Runaway Jury, though, should have been dealt a dose of objectivity. A one-sided ideologue mess left me rolling my eyes, not focused on any sort of mystery or, God forbid, messages.