It remains watchable to the very end, mostly thanks to a stolid cast that absolutely refuses to be sucked into the muddied tropes that make up the screenplay.
Downey's Hank is basically Downey playing a character carefully calibrated for audience sympathies -- hey he's a smug jerk of a lawyer but he's a really good Dad to his loving young daughter.
The familial dysfunction is familiar and cliched, but the two complement each other nicely. Duvall makes the audience, and Hank, work to get to know him, and by the time the denouement rolls around you are glad Hank kept on prodding.
This is not by any means a bad movie. The script has its bright patches, the setting is picturesque, and the cast is full of actors you'll want to see.
An overstuffed, overlong slog of a legal drama. Director David Dobkin coats every cliché with cheap theatrics. Go ahead, see The Judge just for Downey and Duvall. But to cite another recent dud, this is where I leave you.
The main plot anchors itself with quite a lot of naturalism, an ironic half-smile, and that measured point of repulsion-attraction mastered by the great Luchini, expert on human toads that tie us with their tongues. [Full Review in Spanish]
There are a number of fine reasons to see the courtroom-meets-family melodrama The Judge. As you might suspect, two stand out: actors Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr.
