The Judge (2014)

Great acting; hits "close to home" family dynamics; nice twists; perfect ending. I actually watched this whole movie instead of leaving to go read.

(Flash Review)First off, the acting was good. Probably the highlight, even though Duvall and Downey Jr. stick within their expected roles. If only the story wasn't so template and didn't telegraph plot-points. Downey Jr. plays the big city, fast-talking lawyer with the quick wit and Duvall, his father, the small-town judge with squeaky clean morals. Son comes back home for mother's funeral and as the story unfolds around father's recent car accident, who big city lawyer son ends up defending him, their relationship and buried emotions begin to surface. Good acting around the overly-dramatic scenes, typically unrealistic courtroom scenes as well as the stereotypical divorced, single and attractive woman to mix it up with Downey Jr. It was a fine movie, something to pass the time and enjoy but certainly nothing to ponder for later.

Personally my favorite movie of all time, i don't get rotten tomato! The movie was great in every aspect of it, couldn't ask for more actually, two legendary actors in one drama which is my favorite category, maybe i liked the movie because i could see myself in one or two of the characters, but i still loved the performance, writing, screenplay.. really couldn't ask for more. I still get shocked when people tell me that they never even heard of it! The judge is really underrated movie, either you experienced something in movie or not, you'll still get chills.. maybe a few tears. The ending really had me, i had to rewatch the movie to realize the references. Really couldn't ask for more, except asking the cast to do something like it.

In Hollywood, as always, box office is what matters to the folk in charge of hiring. So David Dobkin, a certifiable hack director, gets to produce and direct this lame drama on the basis of legendary financial performance of his comedy "Wedding Crashers".What the long-suffering movie fans get is sentimental slop, with such obvious pulling at the heart strings in the final reels I thought we were being transported to the late Silent Era. Needless to say, Dobkin is no Frank Borzage, the sort of talent needed to pull that off.Robert Downey Jr.'s mannered performance is one-note and extremely facile - hardly worthy of his currently inflated reputation. Yes, the once-promising star of challenging '80s roles and even the impossible task of his Chaplin biopic is now playing himself, not his real self but his screen self so familiar from umpteen iterations. Why not, one might ask -such a strategy certainly worked for Gary Cooper and Clint Eastwood. But this is not an iconic Western, cop or just shucks-hero role, but one calling for some subtlety.At one point Vera Farmiga's character makes fun of Downey's verbal diarrhea and false erudite stance, more a criticism of the actor than the character he's playing. Even a great character actor Robert Duvall falls into similar traps and clichés, as does Vincent D'Onofrio in a role nearly as stereotyped as the hokey youngest "challenged" brother. And Billy Bob Thornton's underplaying as the sort of bad guy of the piece (with a heart of gold, cornily thrown in late in the day) is for me (a Thornton nay-sayer from the good old "Sling Blade" short film days) just another walk-through for the guy who never would have made it back in talent-rich Old Hollywood.