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The Judge

An obvious, overlong and predictable movie


A hotshot Chicago criminal defense lawyer (Robert Downey Jr.) returns to his rural hometown for his mom’s funeral and immediately butts heads with his estranged dad (Robert Duvall, still great at 83!), a respected judge. Things start to get interesting when out of the blue, dad is accused of murder. Alas, they don’t stay interesting.

These actors (plus Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent D’Onofrio and Vera Farmiga) are incapable of giving bad performances, and maybe it’s worth seeing just for the acting. But it’s frustrating to see them caught in such an obvious, overlong and predictable movie. Grisham lite. Japanese title: Judge: Sabakareru Hanji. (141 min)