The Judge (2014), R, ★★1/2

Robert Downey Jr. ready for Robert Duvall's case.

Most of the movies I have recently seen seem to really center on a straining relationship or many straining relationships. But, recently, the movie does not seem to focus on the story nor the characters but the events that revolve around that seem ridiculous or silly. The family drama has to unfold into a worthy catharsis between father or son otherwise the movie will become utterly corny and will turn into a sentimental farce. Crossing the family drama with a courtroom drama, there are one too many backstories to make it into multiple films that it gets out of hand and does not produce a worthy effort and turns into a nostalgic cable film.

Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is a Chicago defense attorney and he is best at what he does. In a solid opening where a prosecuting attorney, Mike Kattan (David Krumholtz), questions his motives and why he defends guilty people while they are in the courthouse bathroom, Hank replies that guilty people cannot afford him.

Hank gets a phone call from his brother telling him that their mother has died. (Wait a minute, isn't this almost the same premise as This is Where I Leave You?) While fighting for custody for his daughter with his wife while going through a process in the divorce, Hank is stressed out and he heads to Carlinville, Indiana where the funeral takes place.

Hanks pays his respects to his mother and he reunites with younger brother, Dale (Jeremy Strong) who is autistic and always holds a Super-8 camera and older brother, Glen (Vincent D'Onofrio), a once-famous baseball player sidelined by a car accident and now is an owner of a shop. He visits the local courthouse where Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall) deliberates over a case. The Judge does not express any feelings at all since he stores all of Hank's junk in his old room and is not courteous to him while greeting everyone. Hank also sees his old high school girlfriend, Samantha (Vera Farmiga) who they have not talk with each other in years.

When the Palmer boys arrive home, they see their dad's car damaged and their father yells at them the next morning not remembering driving it. The police shows up and they take the Judge to the station for questioning about the death of Mark Blackwell. When things get out of hand, the Judge does not want Hank to represent him and wants another attorney to represent him but they find out that Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton) is going to prosecute him. This is going to be hard case on the Palmer family.

The Palmer family at the diner.

The movie made me feel mixed because there is a lot of good things I liked about, but there a lot of bad things that I laughed at. The movie felt unfocused as to what they are trying to center the story on. The clichés are so unbearable that we know that the attorney seems so happy on the outside that he feels so empty on the inside that it will not resolve towards the end of the film and has to show it and then has to redeem himself in some schmaltzy scenes. The one scene I want to build an example on is one of many arguments between Downey Jr. and Duvall and it goes from the house to outside where a tornado is going to take place. There's no depth into setting a tornado in the background of the argument whereas it distracts us on what the scene is really about. It's just displaying atmosphere, not a real conversation.

The best element of the movie is the performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall. I have never seen Downey Jr. as emotional as I have seen in any other movie in a while and can give a very great performance in an otherwise better film. But, he does everything to display his personal side on-screen. Duvall also displays his experience on-screen and has good chemistry with Downey Jr. He is quiet, subtle, and sometimes overbearing in a good way. Unfortunately, Thornton and D'Onofrio are great actors but are underused. Even though Farmiga gives a good performance, the romance between her and Downey Jr. is hackneyed. And, Leighton Meester does not provide substance to a wasted and unnecessary character.

I said earlier in the review that there are too many backstories and yes, because of the female characters because they do not provide depth. I would have scrapped the Meester character and dial down on the relationship between Downey Jr. and Farmiga. And, the movie is too long because there are one too many endings after the case is resolved. It goes on and on and on. On the plus side, Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is splendid and Thomas Newman's score is good. However, it sometimes serve with the over-emotional infrastructure to convey on how we feel. The movie tries to become a product of something memorable, but director David Dobkin throws too much on the screen to serve as a film of meaning. It's worthy enough to watch when it comes out on cable where it is edited down.

**1/2