Unpleasant Ride With Good Actors
If a movie runs past the ideal one hour and fifty minutes, there better be a
good reason. At two hours twenty, The Judge tests our patience. It’s
overlong with a slew of faults and a deep need for a good editor. Still, and
undeniably, it will probably hold your attention.
Designed as a
complex duet for Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall, the story works its way
through the reluctant reunion of a father and son after a long estrangement.
Duvall and Downey do their usual good work with roles as father, Judge Joseph
Palmer, and son, lawyer Hank Palmer.
Hank is the
big shot Chicago lawyer who returns to his hometown of Carlinville, Indiana for
his mother’s funeral. For a lifetime of legimitate reasons that will unfold,
father and son can’t stand each other and neither wins our immediate sympathy.
Hank is arrogant and cold, and his father is a volatile blend of restraint and
explosion.
A strong
series of initial scenes introduces us to the family at the funeral. Brother
Glen (Vincent D’Onofrio) is a big, quiet former athlete who stays out of the
family fight and tends carefully to his mentally limited brother, Dale (Jeremy
Strong in a quiet, effective performance). Samantha Powell (Vera Farmiga) is an
old flame from Hank’s youth, now a strong woman who loves where she lives.
Before long,
Judge Palmer reveals a hot, sometimes violent, temper that is easily triggered,
especially by son Hank who doesn’t want to be there, especially with the father
he resents. When the judge drives to the corner store for eggs, he sideswipes
and kills a man on a bicycle. Was it an accident or a deliberate act of hate?
That is the underlying question in the murder trial of Judge Joseph Palmer whose
defense is led by is his ever resourceful son Hank. Prosecutor Dickham (Billy
Bob Thornton) says of Hank that he is “a bully with a big bag of tricks.” He’s
right.
Weaknesses:
an unpleasant and excessively long scene of the judge dealing with vomit and
diarrhea in the shower; a men’s room squirt episode by Downey; a silly scene of
a nervous lawyer vomiting next to the courthouse steps (repeated three times
lest we miss the humor); a sentimentalized relationship between a mean old man
who becomes implausibly sweet with his granddaughter. This drivel is topped by
an extended courtroom scene designed as a backdrop for an eruption of
pyrotechnics between father and son while the presiding judge and jury look on
in silence like spectators at a sporting event. .
Strengths:
formidable portrayals of unpleasant men by Duvall, Downey, and Thornton – and
one very appealing one by Vera Farmiga who offers the only hope of light at the
end of this dark tunnel. Did I forget to say that in spite of the negatives, I
never lost interest in the characters? Given these actors, who can resist
wondering what they’ll do next?
Film Critic : JOAN ELLIS
Film Title : The Judge
Distributor : Warner Bros.
Running Time : 2:21
Word Count : 497
Rating : R
Copyright (c) Illusion