Jury Duty (1995)

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Tommy Collins (Pauly Shore) drives off all the ladies and loses the stripper job at his uncle Sal's. He is hopelessly unemployed and living with his mom (Shelley Winters). The police captures the Drive-Thru Killer and Tommy gets jury duty. His mom takes off for Vegas and he's aiming to get sequestered for a long free hotel stay. And it pays $5 a day. Monica (Tia Carrere), Frank (Stanley Tucci) and Tommy's old Principal Beasely (Richard Riehle) are some of the jurors.Pauly Shore is playing the moron and a slacker jerk. He's doing it solo. It's boring and unfunny. The script is stupid and not in a funny way. It's like a really weak '12 Angry Men'. The best I could say about this movie is that Pauly Shore could have been more annoying. That's little comfort.

Tommy still lives with his parents in a trailer park. He's trying to improve himself, but his parents aren't really pushing him. Though Tommy's father has a dream: collect styrofoam, no matter how dirty, from all the dumpsters and landfills he and Tommy can find, clean it, and recycle it. Oh, yeah, that's the way to live.One possible job for Tommy: a stripper at the club where his Uncle Sal works. Sal gives him a chance because he's family, but he just hasn't got the talent. Or the body.Then comes the terrible news: Tommy's parents are finally going to get married. In Las Vegas. But where will he live until they return? The couple who will take care of him are even worse than being homeless.But wait! That notice Tommy got in the mail about being called for jury duty. He can make a little money doing that, if it's a long trial. And he has to make sure to get a case where he gets sequestered. And, oh yeah, in nearly all situations like this ... do I really have to say what's going to happen?And the defendant is an accused serial killer who one can't possibly like, with an incompetent lawyer.One more detail: Although he ends up in a suite with the principal who expelled him from high school and still hates him--and keeps him up all night listening to motivational tapes--Tommy manages to con the hotel into giving him the best accommodations he can ask for!How have I never seen this? I love Pauly Shore movies. Actually, Shore didn't have quite the edge that I'm used to in this one. He had some great moments when he was trying to make sure he didn't get on the wrong kind of jury, and toward the end he really does a good job, considering he's Pauly Shore.I was concerned at one point, but the last 20 minutes or so make this movie really worth seeing. Sure, the writers have no concept of what would be legally permissible, and the number of offenses by jurors and other participants that could have resulted in a mistrial or contempt charges would fill a filing cabinet. But it's all entertaining. Eventually.Tia Carrere is really pretty and she has some good scenes. But it's hard to believe from his performance here that Abe Vigoda was ever part of such a respected show as "Barney Miller".You pretty much have to like Adam Sandler and Pauly Shore to like a movie of this type.

I am sure that there is someone out there in movie audiences that like Pauly Shore. I mean, he has to have made something worth watching, right? Well, it certainly wasn't this movie. Except for Tia Carrere, there really isn't anything to see here.The concept is innovative, I have to admit. Made homeless, he gets on jury duty in a murder case to get sequestered, and he keeps the jury going (Spoof of 12 Angry Men?)to keep a roof over his head. But even the murderer (Sean Whalen) gets irritated. I got irritated long before that.Well, let's just wait for the next Pauly Shore venture with American Idol, Ruben Studdard. I am sure it will be as good as this one.

There is a scene early on in "Jury Duty" when Pauly Shore stands on a bus and imitates a town tour guide. It is obvious that this scene was written to showcase Pauly Shore's comedic talents, however, he makes noises and is loud and generally obnoxious and unfunny. "Jury Duty" is the point where Pauly Shore officially abused his stay in movies. After this movie, he would forever be sanctioned to the lunch table in the corner with the smelly kid, Carrot Top and the Noid from the Dominoes commercials. But not until he showed the world his versatility in Bio-Dome.Jury Duty is bad. Not bad like "In the Army Now," but close. There is little originality to the script, no amusing characters and about four funny lines. I did enjoy the scene where the witnesses from restaurants give testimonies in their respective fast food uniforms. There isn't much else here. It just isn't funny.Shore also lacks the wit his idiotic leading men contemporaries like Adam Sandler and Chris Farley showed in the 90s. These were all, more or less, bad versions of Steve Martin's wonderful "Jerk" character. All Shore shows in this movie is that he has the talent to bug you. Of course, not all the blame can be put on his shoulders. He has no script to work with. Nothing. I don't know why Stanley Tucci thought this movie would be good for him and or how the studio blackmailed him into being in it.I remembered both "Encino Man" and "Son in Law" were kind of funny in a stupid way. "Jury Duty " on the other hand is stupid in a very unfunny way.