Big city lawyer Hank Palmer returns to his childhood home where his father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder. Hank sets out to discover the truth and, along the way, reconnects with his estranged family.
Verdict: a combination of courtroom clichés, family feuds and oddball jokes that is a criminal misuse of star talent.
A great cast and promising premise get swamped in an awkward mix of airport-novel noir and blokey family melodrama.
Robert Downey Jr. puts his abundant charisma to good use in this judicial thriller-cum-family reconciliation drama. But the jury’s out on director Dobkin’s aptitude for weighty subject matter.
Verdict: Misfiring melodrama.
Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall can't save this dysfunctional legal drama from sloppy scripting.
There are plenty of emotional fireworks in this big, soupy but entertaining picture.
The Judge is not a film that will ever wrongfoot viewers or confound their expectations. Its pleasures lie instead in the central performances.
It’s just all a bit naff. Downey and Duvall might seem like guarantees of watchability, but any evidence of compelling storytelling is purely circumstantial.
Directed a touch heavy-handedly by David Dobkin, hitherto best known for comedies Wedding Crashers and The Change-Up, The Judge has plenty of gavel-hitting BIG MOMENTS and is never dull but it lacks the subtlety to actually hit you where it matters, in the heart.
As the verdict draws closer, the sentimental silliness and courtroom cliches pile up, leaving us with the feeling that it’s co-writer and director David Dobkin (best known for Wedding Crashers) who can’t handle the truth.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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