The Judge

The Judge is a quality film that deals mostly with real emotions and is adorned with truly brilliant performances that make it as smooth to watch as the aerial pirouettes of pink elephants after taking LSD, but with the arrival of the closing credits, it leaves us with the feeling that this unique creative line-up deserved something more than this kind of easygoing filmmaking. Downey's scatterbrained egotistical character is irresistible, but unfortunately he represents the only rebellious and prominent element in an otherwise precisely measured process where the fates of the supporting players are irrelevant, while the development of the dramatic relationship between the two central characters sets a cinematic precedent. Duvall gives a terrific performance, of course, but Downey is the one that’s more visible and adds more juice to the story. Everything proceeds and ends as it should, but the forcibly pushed twist with the label "family above all" just doesn’t fit into the overall context full of heartless judgments, remorse and generational disputes. Or maybe it manipulates the witnesses quite blatantly. 70% (2015-02-20)

The only thing this film can offer is good acting. Everything else just undermines it. Firstly, it tells a story about judges and for the most part it takes place in the courtroom. Which doesn’t have to be a drawback in itself, had it been well made. There is only one real courtroom moment, but it’s only at the end of the movie – it represents its climax and is also the only good moment this movie has. Secondly, a huge issue with this movie lies in its running time, which is too long given how little happens in there. Already in the first fifteen minutes you’ll understand the situation and how it will develop. Then it all, surprisingly, happens exactly as it would in real life and the audience has no choice but to wait for the ending. The ending is fortunately really good and shows the acting qualities of Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thornton. Unfortunately, you have to suffer a hundred minutes of boredom to see this. (2015-02-08)

A very, very long film, completely unnecessarily so. Although at first glance it would seem that there are a lot of characters to tell a story about, the opposite is true and it's still all about the father and son, with the others being more or less just unnecessary or unused ornaments (Billy Bob Thornton in particular). In addition, I saw The Judge in a failed Czech version, with Robert Duvall speaking to me in the completely inappropriate voice of Jiří Štěpnička (who, unlike his fellow "dubbers", at least tried to act). Two and a half. (2015-03-23)

The Judge is a virtually therapeutic family movie right on the edge of mainstream drama and audience-pleasing thriller that will satisfy most viewers thanks to its stellar cast and overall care in the making of this movie. There is little to fault it for, and I can only wonder how much different the movie would have sounded without "entertainer" Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role, so my feeling of satisfaction prevails after the first viewing. However, I could see this being a solid drama on a much smaller scale than it ultimately ended being - even though I understand that most viewers would then have not been so interested. (2022-01-20)

Besides the fact that I like movies that deal with relationships between characters you can fall in love with, I also appreciate the fact that in the case of "The Judge", it is an excellent combination of drama and humor. It is not slapstick humor directly, but some scenes are appropriately lighthearted, just like the plot is lightened by some characters. And yet, it remains sufficiently believable. (2015-01-12)