The Judge
2014
**½
Director: David Dobkin
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jeremy Strong, Dax Shepard, Leighton Meester, Ken Howard, Emma Tremblay, Balthazar Getty, David Krumholtz, Grace Zabriskie, Denis O'Hare, Sarah Lancaster
When his mother dies, a ruthless Chicago attorney reluctantly returns to his hometown in Indiana, only to be forced to stay and defend his estranged father, the town's respected judge, who is accused of deliberately running over a man. This messy drama combines courtroom action with unresolved family issues. The legal battle gradually helps father and son reconcile, but the story relies on every worn-out trope along the way. The same could be said of the attorney's return home and the murder case, which ultimately builds to a rather anticlimactic conclusion. Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall both give commanding performances, but the rest of the family, particularly the two brothers, remain sketchily drawn. And yet, the film is longer than 2001: A Space Odyssey. The ex-girlfriend subplot should have been left out entirely, especially since the hero ends up making out with her daughter, who could conceivably be his own daughter.
