Review by H. T. Davey

Jury Duty (2023)

★★★★

Director: Jake Szymanski

What makes a great tv show? Or perhaps, what makes an entertaining comedy? Jury Duty is a crazy idea for a show, so crazy, it’s amazing it got a green light for production. But all this paid off in this unique show that packs harmless and fun comedy in an 8-episode mockumentary.

So, what is Jury Duty about? Real jury duty in many countries is when a select group of individuals are selected by the legal system to act as jurors in a legal court case and decide a guilty, or not guilty outcome for a trial. This show, however… is different. It’s a fake trial. We have fake jurors and fake lawyers. All are actually paid actors who are insanely absurd they almost feel like characters from other comedy shows like ‘The Office’ or ‘Parks and Recreation’. One juror, however, is a real person, a person who isn’t an actor, and sincerely believes he was selected to be a part of a jury for a legal trial. Yikes.

The first episode starts off with Ronald Gladden (not an actor) attending a courthouse after being summoned to be on a jury for a trial in the area. He takes his seat and meets fellow juror, James Marsden. Yes, that’s right. James Marsden. The actual actor from movies such as X-Men and The Notebook, who plays himself but is pretending to also be summoned for jury duty.

The subsequential episodes follow all the jury members selected and a trial starts in a courthouse. This trial is fake and multiple fake witnesses take the stand who are absurd one after another. However, the trial does appear to be realistic enough, to make Ronald not too suspicious. We see chaos unfold in the courthouse, jurors being confined to hotel rooms and poor Ronald trying to focus on solving a twisted legal case of privilege and drama.

This show is crazy, unpredictable, and wild but it’s a downright funny show if you’re into mockumentaries. So perhaps, to make a great comedy tv show, maybe you don’t need an organised script or plot. Maybe, you just need James Marsden playing himself.

You can watch the full series of Jury Duty on Amazon Prime Video from April 21.

H. T. Davey Reviews

Where critique meets the love of film