You know, I almost hate myself for giving this movie such a high grade. It has a lot of problems - the biggest being the borderline amateurish direction from David Dobkin (way out of his element here) and the cliché-ridden screenplay. You can see certain plot points coming from a mile away. But I have to say, this is a totally entertaining and moving crowdpleaser that audiences are going to eat up. It works as well as it does thanks to a pair of powerhouse performances. Robert Downey Jr. is fantastic here and I absolutely loved his character, and he's equally matched by an equally endearing and impressive Robert Duvall. I LOVED so many scenes of the movie between these two (their confrontation in the family kitchen and the final courtroom scene come to mind - Downey Jr. has rarely been so vulnerable as an actor) and their father-son relationship is easily the movie's strong point. A few moments in particular nearly brought me to tears. The rest is not nearly as interesting, though I did find the subplot between Downey Jr. and his young daughter lovely and I wished there was more of it featured in the film. The supporting cast is strong but mostly wasted. Vera Farmiga is charming but sadly underused and contributes to one of the film's most bizarre subplots (involving a pointless Leighton Meester as well). Billy Bob Thornton could play this role in his sleep. Dax Shepard is funny but equally underused. Vincent D'Onofrio's character hits the right emotional beats but feels like a stock character. The one exception is Jeremy Strong who gets the most to work with and definitely makes an impression. Despite the nearly two and a half hour running time I was never bored and I wanted to see how things resolved themselves. This may not turn into some huge Oscar contender (though honestly it wouldn't surprise me - it's just as saccharine as something like Forrest Gump which the Academy ate up), it is 100% a crowdpleaser in the vein of movies like The Help and should have great word of mouth. I actually think Warner Bros. could have made a killing with a late summer release for this in the spot where Get On Up faltered (and the R rating is somewhat ridiculous and is really only for language). I really think it's worth seeing for both Downey Jr. and Duvall though - they are magnificent. B

A superb cast goes a ways towards redeeming a cliched and perfunctory story, but not quite enough to be more than an average watch. C+

An instantly forgettable, overlong, TV-movie-of-the-week calibre production, with ugly cinematography, awful dialogue and a boring plot. The actors can't save it. If I was Robert Duvall, I would declare myself ineligible for any awards, hoping this garbage disappears from memory, and fast. F

B

I was very much surprised by how much I enjoyed it and by the fact that despite its 140-minutes running time I was never bored. That is mostly thanks to Robert Duvall's magnificent performance, who (and I'll voice an unpopular opinion now) deserves the attention he is currently getting. It is his strongest turn in years and his scenes with his sons are simply amazing. Robert Downey Jr. does his schtick and he does it well, but by now he is just going on autopilot. Vera Farmiga, who is a great actress, is sadly underdeveloped. Overall I enjoyed this by-the-numbers mixture of family drama with some humorous elements.

I really enjoyed this actually. It's touching and features a couple of great performances by Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall. Definitely not perfect, but it worked well enough for me.

7/10 ( B )

It's so horribly cliche-ridden (RDJ is a prick lawyer, he doesn't get along with his Judge Dad, but uh-oh... what happens when his Judge Dad is accused of murder?!) that it would be easy to write off The Judge as nothing more than two veteran actors, Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, basically playing off one another for almost two and a half hours of predictable plot turns, bad storytelling and misused supporting characters. But I'll be damned if I wasn't entertained for what is an abnormally lengthy film.

So let's get the bad out of the way. Its length is its worst enemy. If they had used the time properly to flesh out a lot of these other characters (played by so many recognizable names, it's a punishable crime that they're all so tragically underused), The Judge would be golden. As such, the running time is basically spent allowing the father and son to war with one another, then make up, then war some more, then make up again. Actors like Vincent D'Onofrio, Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga, David Krumholtz and Dax Shepard are basically paid to play the usual stock characters in this type of picture.

What does work is almost non-existent. It would have been great to spend a little more time with RDJ's character at home. Short of being told via on-screen writing, we're told he's a prick and that's that. A little more of his home life would have given us a more fleshed-out character. At least a few more scenes with his daughter.

Which brings me to one of the most bizarre subplots I've ever seen in such a high-profile, respectable film: RDJ makes out with what is later thought to be his daughter (via his high school sweetie, Vera Farmiga). But ah, it's okay, it's only his brother's daughter, the result of a brief rebound after RDJ left. Never mind, it was only his niece! That's totally fine. If something actually came of this, which is doubtful, there may be justification. But it's a scant subplot that serves zero purpose. We could have gotten the exact same thing out of Vera's character without the thoughts of an incestuous fling.

And of course the youngest brother is mentally handicapped, and of course his oldest brother would be a baseball star IF NOT FOR HIS DAMNED FOOLISH BROTHER, and of course the heavy storm outside is matched by the heavy storm inside between father and son, and of course Respectable Judge gave a man leniency because he reminded him of his middle son, and of course of course of course.

All that aside, The Judge is a good story. It's hard to do a good story today. It feels very 90s. It doesn't pretend to be any more than it is. It's simple, direct and above all, interesting. Perhaps even better than Duvall (who feels very much alive at this stage of his career, in a role that feels challenging for the legendary actor) is RDJ, who we may often forget is a great actor that didn't always have the success of superhero films but was still a stellar star.

B-