Amazon Studios/Freevee
Borat, The Rehearsal, and Paul T. Goldman have pioneered a distinctly modern brand of comedy in which fact and fiction are knottily intertwined. On the surface, Jury Duty seems to be following their lead, given that it’s a long-form ruse staged for the benefit (or is it punishment?) of one hoodwinked participant. Amazon Freevee’s 10-part series (premiering April 7), however, is less a boundary-pushing affair with pointed things on its mind than an empty Candid Camera throwback (by way of The Truman Show) that’s stretched to unrewarding lengths. It’s proof that what Sacha Baron Cohen and Nathan Fielder do isn’t easily replicated.
Jury Duty’s mark is Ronald Gladden, a 29-year-old solar panel contractor who arrives at Huntington Park Superior Court in Los Angeles County without a clue about the scam being perpetrated by co-creators Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, showrunner Cody Heller and director Jake Szymanski. That ruse: Everything taking place is a sham, and everyone involved is an actor. Ronald is the only “real” person in this made-up situation, which affords an opportunity to gauge his tolerance for nonsense.
That begins with an underwhelmingly wannabe-wacky civil trial concerning business owner Jacquiline Hilgrove, who’s suing former employee Trevor Morris for showing up to her factory drunk and high, and allegedly peeing and defecating on an enormous batch of custom shirts that had been ordered for an important influencer’s big event.