“The Judge” Falls Short of Hype

Walking into the theater at Cinemark Plaza to see “The Judge,” I had a couple questions: will the father and son get into a fight? Probably so. Will there be one over-thought, melodramatic court scene after another until a stunning result is revealed? Sure. We’ll go with that.

Everything that’s going to happen in this drawn out, over-emphatic movie can be seen coming from a mile away. There are so many clichés that it made me want to laugh. Yet, perhaps I should have expected it. Director David Dobkin obviously doesn’t get how to portray a sentimental movie, as we’ve seen with his 2005 hit, “Wedding Crashers.”

Don’t get me wrong, it had its moments, just as any movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall should. But its cheap theatrics and sentimental rubbish outshine any brighter patches.

If you’ve glanced at the trailer, or watched it as  you wait for the commercial break to end while  watching baseball this playoff season (go ‘Yals), you’d recognize that Robert Downey Jr. plays a slick Chicago lawyer, Hank Palmer. He’s the typical Downey Jr. character: a snarky, yet highly intelligent man who, in this case, defends only those who are guilty because he brags that “innocent people can’t afford me.”

After the first 30 minutes, we learn that Hank Palmer’s mother has died, back in his small hometown in the middle of Illinois. So, Hank must return to the place he despises the most to visit his father (Robert Duvall), Judge Palmer. Hint hint, ring ring, bang bang, go scream and shout that there’s the title. Really clever stuff.

Eventually, after about 30 minutes or so of slop, Judge Palmer is accused of murdering a man. Then, to no one’s surprise, Judge Palmer’s snarky son must defend him in court. Didn’t see that one coming.

The meat of the movie then goes on dozens of sidetracks such as Hank reuniting with his old girlfriend, Vera Farmiga, and apparently ending his brother’s would-be stellar baseball career with an awful car accident before getting to the part that I bought the ticket for: the trial.

I do have to admit, I was ecstatic to finally get to watch this last 30 minutes of the movie. I assumed it would be a showdown of great talent with Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, and the prosecution’s talented lawyer and Palmer’s legal nemesis, Billy Bob Thornton. But, alas, this was the most disappointing of all. The sentimental silliness and painful clichés hit their breaking point, and the court case fails in the end to reach its objective of drawing out any emotional value.

With Robert Downey Jr. as a main character I expected a great movie with his normal snarky brilliance, to be utterly fantastic, especially when paired with Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thornton. But the film falls short because of its director’s inability to display any kind of emotional sentiment. Wedding Crashers must have had him and his honeymoon convertible broken down back in comedy-ville. And that horrible analogy, dear readers, was nearly as disappointing as The Judge.

If you would like to watch The Judge on HBO, or On Demand when the movie comes out on DVD, it might be worth taking a peek, just to see Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall strut their stuff. But, other than that, the movie displays no real value, and simply falls short as another would-be dud.