5/10 

“The Judge” stars Robert Downey Jr as big city lawyer Hank Palmer, who returns to his childhood home where his estranged father, the town’s 40 year plus judge (Robert Duvall), is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before. If i were to define this film as just one thing, i would say it’s an actor’s piece. The performances are definitely the best thing about this film with a powerful cast of Hollywood heavy hitters. The problems that these actors have to face is a mediocre script that can be distracting for all the wrong reasons. The Judge is a dreadful 2 hours and 20 minutes for absolutely no reason what so ever. The film sees many pointless scenes that can easily be trimmed for time and better flow in the movie’s direction. In particular, i found a tornado scene one that went on for way too long, and never really establishes anything new that we haven’t seen for 90 minutes up to that point. Another scene shows a family movie projector where Duvall’s family is sitting around the living room watching these great memories for sentimental feelings. Where this goes into lunacy (along with the rest of the film) is the projector film being spliced with footage from a car accident from Downey’s brother (Jeremy Strong) in the film. What family would take film of their sons horrific car accident, let alone keep the footage to watch for years and years? Scenes like this are far from the biggest problems in this movie. There is an uncomfortable incest storyline (Yes you read that well) in this film that has absolutely no bearing or reasoning as to why it was even considered for a courtroom drama. Even worse, the incest is treated for laughs that made me feel awkward as i was the only person in a packed theater not laughing about it. It’s awkward for no reason at all, and i was looking at my watch just in hopes this film would end quicker. Finally, how does a movie called “The Judge” have less than 20 minutes of actual courtroom scenes? I was looking for more head to head debating between the two lawyers (Downey and Billy Bob Thornton). Then i really thought about why this was. The case itself isn’t exactly a tough one to predict how it will result in. All of the clues are there in the reveals of each new piece of evidence to the case, and it amazed me how quickly into the movie we knew what this verdict was going to be an hour and a half before that reveal. Because you know where it’s going, the film suffers greatly in pointless exposition scenes between this crumbling family. I know it sounds like i really hated this film, but “The Judge” has performances which really pull it out of the cellar, and yes they are that good. Downey is the most charasmatic actor in Hollywood bar none. The man can take a mediocre script and give it his all to turn it into gold. Playing a lawyer is the role that Downey was born to play, as his humor is present even in this dry film. His interaction with Duvall sets the tone for the kind of damage that this family has endured for decades. Duvall is still a hard hitting actor who still can generate the tears. Also noteworthy are Thornton and a hard working female lead by Vera Farmiga. The relationship of Farmiga and Downey definitely didn’t go where i thought it was going, and the end result should’ve been more honorably written between the two. I wish i could explain more, but i am not going to spoil it for the people who legitimately want to see this film. “The Judge” might possibly be the best film to come out this weekend, but it’s a verdict that is never satisfying enough beyond the performances. It’s a film that will easily be forgotten in ten years because there are much better courtroom dramas. I recommend JFK, A Time To Kill, and The Lincoln Lawyer