I’m usually a sucker for courtroom dramas, but Rob Reiner’s highly mechanical filming by numbers of Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of his own cliched and fatuous Broadway play kept putting me to sleep. A glib rookie navy lawyer (Tom Cruise) who has grown up in the shadow of his celebrated navy-lawyer father is assigned to defend two marines against charges of murdering a member of their platoon; Demi Moore plays a member of his defense team, and Jack Nicholsonwho gets costar billing for walking through three short scenesplays the hard-nosed colonel ultimately responsible for the death. With Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland (1992). (JR)