
It's definitely middlebrow fare, and the overall trajectory of the film is not hard to guess based on the initial setup (11 guys think the boy is guilty, while Henry Fonda, the lone dissenter, has serious doubts; guess what's going to happen in the rest of the film?). Still, I enjoyed it immensely, for its ability to craft a tight, suspenseful narrative within the extreme confines it sets for itself; 93 of the film's 96 minutes take place in one room.
The performances are excellent, and the film is able to craft a lot of mini-arcs for the various jurors that are almost as compelling as the outcome of the deliberations itself. Lastly, I always enjoy any story where argument (and not just in the sense of PEOPLE TALKING LOUDLY!!!) figures as the primary mode by which the story propels itself, so 12 Angry Men gets a definite recommend from me.