Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall play a father and son who cannot stand each other, and that is the whole engine of The Judge. David Dobkin directs from a script he wrote with Bill Dubuque and Nick Schenk. Warner Bros. released it in the United States on October 10, 2014.
The film runs 141 minutes. It wants to be a legal drama and a family drama at once. It is neither, quite.
Trailer, via Warner Bros..
Hank Palmer Comes Home to Carlinville
Hank Palmer is a Chicago trial lawyer. He is good at it and not proud of it. He defends powerful clients he knows are guilty.
He is divorcing his wife, Lisa, for infidelity when he gets the news. His mother has died. He returns to Carlinville, Indiana, the rural town where he grew up.
There he finds Glen, his older brother, who runs a tire shop. And Dale, his younger brother, an intellectually disabled amateur filmmaker. And his father, Judge Joseph Palmer of the local criminal court. Hank calls him “Judge.” He does not call him Dad.
The Bailiff’s Name
The two men have been estranged for years. When Hank was a teenager he got into a car accident. Glen was hurt and lost his chance at a baseball career. The Judge sent Hank to juvenile detention for it.
Hank stops by the courthouse to watch his father work. During a case, the Judge cannot recall the name of his long-time bailiff.
The morning after the funeral, Hank sees damage on the Judge’s Cadillac. He accuses his father, a recovered alcoholic, of driving drunk. The Judge has no memory of an accident. They argue. Hank vows never to return to Carlinville.
Mark Blackwell and the Blood on the Car
Glen calls before the flight takes off. Their father is a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run.
The victim is Mark Blackwell, a recently released ex-convict. The Judge sentenced him to 20 years for the murder of his 16-year-old girlfriend. Blackwell drowned her. Earlier, the Judge had given him 30 days for shooting up the girl’s house.
Police forensics confirm Blackwell’s blood is on the Judge’s car. He is indicted. Given his history with the victim, he is charged.
Duvall Is the Reason to Watch
Duvall earned Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Satellite Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Thomas Newman got a Satellite nomination for Best Original Score. The supporting cast includes Vera Farmiga, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jeremy Strong, Dax Shepard and Billy Bob Thornton.
The film grossed $84.4 million against a $45–50 million budget.
The problem is that the movie does not trust Duvall to carry it. Every scene between father and son is written to explode, and few of them earn the explosion. Downey gets the speeches. Duvall gets the silences, and the silences are better.
What the Movie Gets Wrong
The premise is strong. A judge who may have killed the man he once sentenced is a real idea, and the estrangement gives it weight. But The Judge keeps reaching for the tearful confession when the colder version would cut deeper.
The courtroom material is thin. The family material is thinner. What holds is Duvall, who plays a proud man losing his memory and his authority at the same time, and does it without asking for sympathy.
This is a film that mistakes length for depth. At 141 minutes it has room to be either a sharp legal thriller or a quiet study of a broken family. It chooses to be both, loudly, and ends up less than the sum of its parts.
Key facts
– Release: October 10, 2014 (United States)
– Director: David Dobkin
– Runtime: 141 minutes
– Budget: $45–50 million
– Gross: $84.4 million
– Metacritic: 48/100
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