Now Showing: Unreasonable Doubt

 

Unreasonable Doubt

Genre: Romantic Comedy/Crime

Director: Andrew Fleming

Writer: Walter McKnight

Cast: Cristin Milioti, Channing Tatum, Raymond Lee, Kurtwood Smith, Heidi Gardner, Aya Cash, Paul Scheer, Stephen Root, Kim Matula, JB Smoove, Iris Apatow, Reid Scott, Meredith Hagner

Plot: Lucy Becker (Cristin Milioti) arrives late to her office job yet again, slipping into her cubicle with a mumbled excuse about an imaginary bus breakdown. At lunch, she eats leftover fries while watching a low-budget docuseries called Married to Murder on her cracked tablet. Back at her apartment, her roommate Darla (Heidi Gardner) lights a bundle of sage and says she’s cleansing ancestral trauma. Lucy finds a jury summons in her mail and immediately tosses it onto the floor with a dramatic groan.

The next morning, on the courthouse steps, Lucy runs into her ex-fiancé Colin (Reid Scott) and his new girlfriend Taryn (Meredith Hagner), who’s dressed like a walking Pinterest board. Colin stammers through a nervous hello, while Taryn cheerfully describes their new apartment and a pottery class, then hugs Lucy a second too long. Lucy walks away without saying anything and drops her full latte in the trash on her way inside.

Lucy is selected for a murder trial. The defendant, Noah Glint (Channing Tatum), sits alone at the defense table wearing a suit that looks like it came from a strip mall funeral home. His face is tired, stubbled, and wary. The prosecutor, ADA Vanessa Clyburn (Aya Cash), lays out the state’s case: Noah’s ex-girlfriend was stabbed 17 times in her kitchen. The footage from her building’s security camera is grainy. The murder weapon was never found. Noah had a record for a couple fights and was last seen arguing with her. Judge Tewksbury (Kurtwood Smith), grumpily explains the rules to everyone in the room.

Voir dire drags. Lucy tries to act neutral but can’t help cracking a line about bingeing Law & Order: SVU for research. It bombs. She’s picked anyway. The other jurors include Eli (Raymond Lee), who helps Lucy untangle her badge lanyard; Cheryl (Kim Matula), an uptight suburban soccer mom; Darnell (JB Smoove), who sneaks Cheez-Its in his sock; and Aubrey (Iris Apatow), a Gen Z juror livestreaming her courthouse outfits from the bathroom. Gene (Stephen Root), the foreman, is a humorless ex-engineer who demands order. 

The case is rough. The prosecution plays the 911 call and a parade of witnesses describe a volatile relationship. A neighbor says they heard screaming. A co-worker says she’d been planning to break things off for good. Noah’s defense attorney, Lenny Krellman (Paul Scheer), misplaces his files, mops his forehead constantly, and forgets his own client's name mid-question. When Noah takes the stand, he admits to the argument but insists he walked out before anything happened. His voice is steady, but his eyes keep flicking toward the jury. Lucy catches him looking and doesn’t look away.

During a break, Lucy waits near the vending machine. As Noah is escorted back to holding, she drops a gum wrapper. He bends down, picks it up, and quietly hands it to her. Their fingers brush. He gives her a crooked smile before the guard pulls him away. That night, Lucy rewatches his testimony on a courthouse YouTube feed. Darla walks in to see Lucy deep into the playback. Lucy slams the laptop shut.

Deliberations begin. Cheryl and Gene push for guilty immediately. Lucy brings up inconsistencies — no blood on Noah’s clothes, no murder weapon, no real motive beyond an argument. Eli supports looking over transcripts again. Darnell says he’s cool with whatever, as long as it wraps by Friday. Lucy keeps drilling into details and raising doubts. Gene accuses her of being emotionally compromised and unreasonable. The vote is stuck.

The next day, Lucy is caught mid-deliberation passing a folded note to Noah during a courtroom recess. The note has a crudely drawn smiley face with a little halo and the words “I believe you.” Judge Tewksbury sees the exchange. He halts proceedings and calls an immediate sidebar. Ten minutes later, he bangs his gavel and declares a mistrial — citing “gross juror misconduct.” As the courtroom buzzes, the other jurors glare at Lucy. Noah meets her eyes with a subtle grin before being led away.

Days later, Lucy spots Noah at a neighborhood dive bar. He buys her a drink. They sit close. He thanks her. She tells him not to make it weird. The conversation builds until they’re touching — and then it explodes. They stumble out of the bar, laughing, pawing at each other, bumping into a recycling bin. At Lucy’s apartment, they don’t make it past the hallway. She slams him against the door and climbs him like a jungle gym. He tears her shirt open. She pulls off his belt with her teeth. They leave a trail of clothing across the floor. In the kitchen, she’s half bent over the counter when Darla walks in, drops her keys, and slowly backs out while muttering “Oh HELL no.” Lucy flips her hair and shrugs mid-thrust.

Lucy and Noah start a relationship. Lucy starts feeling Noah is a bit intense. He starts calling multiple times during the day. One night, while digging through his bag for ChapStick, Lucy finds a small velvet box. Inside is a charm bracelet — silver with a dangling shoe. She recognizes it from a slideshow of the victim. Lucy shows Darla, who stares at it, then grabs her phone. They meet Eli at Lucy’s apartment and lay out the evidence. Lucy proposes a plan. Eli’s hesitant a bit hesitant, but Lucy sweet talks into helping. They rig the apartment with a recording device beneath the coffee table. Lucy texts Noah to come over. 

That night, Lucy flirts with Noah over dinner like nothing’s wrong. She pours him wine and asks about closure. He says the past is complicated. She sets the bracelet on the table between them and asks what really happened. He says the victim started yelling. He snapped. Then he notices the red blinking light. His eyes shift. He lunges. Lucy backs up fast, knocking over the wine. Eli bursts in. Noah grabs a knife from the sink. Eli tackles him. They crash into the counter. Lucy grabs a skillet and clocks Noah. He staggers, grabs Eli, and slams him into the wall. He raises the knife. Lucy stabs him in the shoulder with a paring knife. He drops. Blood splatters across the linoleum. Outside, Darla is screaming for the cops from the balcony.

Noah is arrested. The DA files new charges. At the courthouse, Judge Tewksbury walks past Lucy - this time there as a witness - in the lobby and dryly says she might want to stick to cat videos next time. She forces a smile but flips him off the second he turns his back. Weeks later, Lucy finds Eli alone in a coffee shop. They share a pastry and make awkward small talk about trauma bonding. He jokes that he is thinking of detective work a try rather than returning to his HR job. Lucy dryly replies that she’s banned from serving justice by any official means. As she gets home, she finds a new jury summons in her mailbox. She crumples it up and throws it in the trash.

Mid-Credits:

In her closet, now converted into a makeshift podcast studio, Lucy presses record. She welcomes listeners to the first episode of Unreasonable Doubt, a true crime podcast about “the worst first date of all time.” She’s got a cheap mic, a glass of wine, and a messy stack of notes. Her voice is steady as she begins, “This is a story about justice... and absolutely terrible taste in men.”