Jury Duty, the new series on Freevee, simultaneously utilizes and spoofs the success ofrecent high-profile televised court caseslike the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard case and Gwyneth Paltrow’s skiing accident case.Jury Dutytakes the hidden camera japes ofImpractical Jokersand fills it into a12 Angry Menmold. Every episode ofJury Dutyopens with the same message: “But this is not a normal trial. It’s fake. Everyone involved is an actor. Except for one person…”
Everyone in the show is an actor. The judge. The bailiff. The prosecutor. The defendant. Everyone on the witness stand. Aside from one man: Juror #6, solar panel salesman Ronald Gladden. Taking the theatrics of the O.J. Simpson trial and every season ofJudge Judyrolled into one,Jury Dutyis must-watch television, as aTruman Showscenario is built up around this one man while dumb stuff keeps happening around him at every turn.
Introducing Actor James Marsden
Messing with him first and foremost is oneJames Marsden. “Who?,” I hear you ask. You know, star ofX-Men, Sonic the Hedgehog, Enchanted, Hairspray… no? Well, he’s included in the cast playing a pompous version of himself, determined to escape the time commitment of the trial and boasting about the new script he’s just received. Through the unsuspecting Gladden’s natural niceness, this high-profile actor of Marvel, DC, Sega, and Disney movies is hiding in plain sight.
Although, when he is first introduced, Ronald has literally no idea who he is, quizzing the size of certain roles in movies he’s definitely seen, and revealing that he’s heard theSonicmovie sucks directly to his face. For all the show’s excellent controlled experiment setup, it’s this average man’s non-reaction to this superstar that echoes literally everyone else when it comes to Marsden’s career.
Related:Best James Marsden Movies, Ranked
And ironically, it’s this succinct moment of not really being recognized for his work that could be the moment where James Marsden evolves past being that “Nice Guy,” and actually becomes “James Marsden, Actor.”
The Evidence of Marsden’s Nice Guy Career
The nonfictional version of Marsden has made an entire career out of characters that are pushed aside for the real love interest of the film. In the originalX-Mentrilogy (2000-2006), Marsden’s Cyclops came off as boring and in the way compared to hunky rogue Wolverine.TheNotebook(2004) saw Marsden passed over for true love in Ryan Gosling. DC’sSuperman Returns(2006) had Marsden as a bland mirror image of Lois Lane’s Superman. Disney’sEnchanted(2007) pitched us a two-dimensional Marsden as Prince Edward, who is then rebuffed for the real world and Giselle’s real love.
And it’s not that any of these characters are weak, per se, but perhaps vanilla…? People remember Hugh Jackman’s name, they remember Ryan Gosling’s, whereas Marsden even now, despite having been working for 20 years, is still just “that guy.”
Even when there’s not a love story happening, Marsden’s characters exist to borecompared to the real storyat play. In the fantastic first seriesWestworld, Marsden’s Teddy is an android whose entire purpose, his very existence for being, is to be killed, so the guest can rescue the damsel. Take when he loses a bet on the ratings to Ron Burgandy inAnchorman 2. Handsome go-getter Jack Lime must aptly change his name to “Jack Lame.”
James Marsden’s career choices are practically a storytelling trope by this point. Hire Marsden for your film, and he embodies the lightweight obstacle in the way of the real love interest found at the end. Directly praising his particular input in theSonicfilm (while simultaneously describing him as the Beta male),Mel Magazinesums it up so well.
That’s none other than James Marsden, and I don’t blame you for forgetting. If anything, his good-looking blandness has been part of his appeal for years — but also his perpetual limitation.
And off-screen, there’s no dirt on Marsden either. He and his wife, actress Lisa Linde, divorced in 2011 after over ten years together, and that’s as close toany high-profile scandalyou’re going to get. For a Hollywood all-American movie star, he comes with zero freakouts, drunken car crashes, or illegitimate children, all weirdly adding to his own plainness.
Related:The 10 Best Lawyers in TV Shows, Ranked
Yes, despite being included in worlds of metal-melding mutants, killer androids, super speed hedgehogs, and orphaned Kryptonians, Marsden’s back catalog is perfected to the point of blending directly into the background of the greater story at play and being upstaged by the greater love interest in the next scene.
James Marsden to the Witness Stand
In just a single episode ofJury Duty,the fictional Marsdensheds whatever not-image he may have had as this squeaky clean working actor and becomes instead a diva better than and more important than everyone else in the room.
Drawing the plaintiff while she is on the stand completely nude, he is piggish and self-serving. In a ploy to get out of jury duty entirely, he requests his agent call in paparazzi to disrupt the case by taking pictures of him. Then, when he is unable to escape the week-long trial, he finds a loophole to not have to stay in the hotel with the others overseeing the case, instead driving off in his 4x4 and shouting his faux regret from the disappearing vehicle.
While simple, Marsden opting to play himself — or a variation of himself while proudly boasting his own name — is a statement, finally. It’s this 180 of a performance where viewers will finally remember his moniker going forward. As he spouts terrible dating advice to his peers and brags about his new role, it’s this off-screen persona that will ironically finally benefit.
In a moment in time and media where cruelty seems to reign all-powerful, it’s Marsden’s douchebaggery inJury Dutythat sticks. His trying as he might to escape the trail is a pruned Paltrow sitting in the dock, then going on to sell candles to the masses. His venom-tipped comments are this series' glove not fitting, and his laugh-out-loud dumb asides are its dog stepping on a bumblebee moment.
While I believe thatJury Dutywill be (and should be) a one-and-done series, watch as it completely alters this former nice guy’s entire career trajectory. Case adjourned.
