So You Want to Be on a Jury (1955)
*** (out of 4)
Funny short has Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) and buddy Homer (Jackson Wheeler) skipping work so that they can sit in on a jury but it turns out their boss is on trial against a gangster. The duo must either go against their boss and face getting fired or go against the gangster and end up dead. If you're new to the Joe McDoakes series then this entry wouldn't be a bad place to start even if it's not one of the better ones in the series. It does have enough good laughs to make it worth sitting through and the back-and-forth situation makes for a few decent laughs especially one where the boss dresses as a woman in order to get into the jury room. Another funny gag happens early on as Homer is able to convince the boss that Joe would be able to work 26-hours a day and wouldn't have to be paid any extra money. Both O'Hanlon and Wheeler are in top-form and have a nice comic timing together. We even get Arthur Q. Bryan, voice of Elmer Fudd, playing the Judge in a couple scenes. Most of the jokes are rather simple as the jury goes one way only to have to change sides and this goes swinging back every few minutes. There's certainly nothing ground breaking here but there are enough laughs to make this an entertaining nine-minutes.