Hank, a slick, iconoclastic Chicago defense lawyer (Robert Downey Jr.) asks prospective jurors what message is on their bumper sticker. In the very first scene, he also pees on his opposing prosecutor while they both visit a men’s room. The wildly uneven yet ultimately successful The Judge constantly veers between a deep, estranged father/son tale and a bordering-on-mush TV-movie. The “good” flick wins out over the “bad” in a squeaker thanks to marvelous turns by Robet Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall.
Dad (Duvall) too, is a legal guy, a judge. In fact, everyone calls him “Judge”–including his own sons, which, besides Hank, includes Glen (Vincent D’Onofrio) and the slow-witted Dale (Jeremy Strong) Hank hasn’t talked to Judge in ages when he comes back to their southern Indiana hometown for his mother’s funeral. He’s ready to go back to Chicago when, as they used to say in a certain old sitcom, a revolting development occurs. Seems Judge struck and killed a man with his prized antique Coupe de Ville and there’s blood on the vehicle like so much potential proof. Oh, and the man The Judge allegedly killed was the same guy he once gave a light sentence to only to have the lucky bastard commit a ghastly crime soon after. Since that tarnished Judge’s fine reputation, there’s also motive. While we won’t find out for awhile just what caused the rift between father and son or exactly how Glen fits in, Hank goes nuts watching the local bumpkin lawyer attempt to represent Judge, and eventually throws himself into the case. Billy Bob Thornton, of all actors, plays the prosecutor. He’s by no means Bad Santa here–more like Good Lawyer, quiet-mannered but still with hus trademark smirk.
The Judge, directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) wears many hats: courtroom drama–check; family melodrama–check. In addition to coming around to some sort of rapprochement with his Dad, Hank also juggles a young daughter, a former girlfriend who never left the hometown (Vera Farmiga, very good, as usual), and her grown daughter (Leighton Meester), who may or may not be Hank’s, and who he may or may not tell mom he made out with before he knew who she was the first night he came back home. The Judge mixes these threads fairly well, but at 2 hour, 22 minutes, screenwriters Nick Schenk (the underrated Gran Torino) and Bill Dubuque might have better served themselves with a good trim.
Now for Duvall. At 83, he displays a command here that gives goosebumps. A cantankerous, merciless type, he nonetheless inspires an empathy. In a memorable scene where his failing health requires from Hank a dutifulness beyond the usual niceties, we catch the two consummate pros at the very top of their game. Their differences suddenly seem to pale once the two enjoy a laugh together despite th scatological challenging circumstances. Downey is best at the sardonic, rapid-fire wit-laden tirades that we come to identify with Hank. Yet he also shows he can do warm and fuzzy after a lot of years of nearly exclusively playing Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes. In a film that wobbles a little too much at times, watching these two go at it should be quite enough to sustain interest until the real heavyweight fall films arrive.
Two Peerless Actors Save A Film…3.5 (out of 5) stars