Film: The Judge

GENRE: Drama

RATING: R for language and sexual references
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 21 minutes

STARRING: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes)

Robert Duvall (Get Low, A Civil Action), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)

DIRECTOR: David Dobkin(Wedding Crashers, Shanghai Knights)

WRITERS: Nick Schenk (Gran Torino) & Bill Dubuque (newcomer)

PLOT: A lawyer returns home for his mother’s funeral but ends up having to stay to defend his father, a judge, who is accused of murder.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:

1 The film was a fine piece of work but nothing to write home about. I think they tried to stuff too much content into the story. The estranged father/son relationship and the court case was enough; there was no need for the lost love angle.

2 Robert Downey Jr. is always fun to watch. I really enjoyed his parenting skills with his young daughter. Funny yet touching.

3 I was impressed with Jeremy Strong (Zero Dark Thirty) who plays one of the brothers with special needs. It wasn’t overboard but pretty effective.

4 I was annoyed by Duvall’s hair in this film. It kind of winged out in the back. Gel that thing down!  

5 David Krumholtz (Numbers) has put on some weight. He used to be a really skinny dude. Just sayin’.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for it on TV
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Birdman