Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago who doesn’t care whom he defends as long as they can pay. He and his wife, Lisa (Sarah Lancaster), are on the verge of a divorce, but Hank wants custody of their young daughter, Lauren (Emma Tremblay).
When his mother dies, Hank heads home to Indiana for the funeral. His older brother, Glen (Vincent D’Onofrio), runs a tire store, while their younger brother, Dale (Jeremy Strong), who’s mentally challenged, uses an old 8mm camera to film everything around him. He is the only one happy to see Hank, who’s been gone for almost 20 years. Hank and his father, Joseph (Robert Duvall), cannot stand each other.
Complications ensue when “the judge,” as everyone calls Joseph, goes out to buy eggs. The next day, he is accused of deliberately hitting and killing a man he had let off with an easy sentence decades before. He refuses to let Hank represent him at first. But during the trial, Hank discovers a secret about his father that could save him.
The Judge is at its best when Hank becomes aware of his father’s fragility and vulnerability, and the bond between father and son is gracefully restored. I liked the film, and enjoyed Downey Jr.’s performance. Duvall, as usual, is a master.
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