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<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA good movie is hard to find. Bad writing, bad acting and even worse morals are the norm for much of what Hollywood is shoveling out these days. And more often than not, self-styled Important Films that Say Something wind up being thinly-disguised propaganda for the political left. Apparently, that rare breed of\u00a0film that simply\u00a0tells a story\u00a0<\/em>isn\u2019t considered Important enough in and of itself. A good movie is hard to find. Bad writing, bad acting and even worse morals are the norm for much of what Hollywood is shoveling out these days. And more often than not, self-styled Important Films that Say Something wind up being thinly-disguised propaganda for the political left. Apparently, that rare breed of\u00a0film that simply\u00a0tells […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3595,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,37],"tags":[328],"class_list":["post-21025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-movies","tag-movies"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhile he has quietly voiced some conservative opinions<\/a>, actor Robert Downey, Jr. seems\u00a0like an unlikely candidate to lead a revival of substantial, thought-provoking movie-making. But the star who\u2019s made millions\u00a0in mainstream superhero flicks has surprised his fans\u00a0by expressing a desire to do just that, with a production company he and his wife have co-founded themselves.\u00a0The Judge\u00a0<\/em>is their debut project. And while the Hollywood establishment is wrinkling their noses at it, it appears that the majority of ordinary movie-watching\u00a0Americans\u00a0are giving it a thumbs up.
\nThe film is billed as a courtroom drama, whose two main characters are a father (Robert Duvall) and\u00a0son (Downey, Jr.) attempting to find reconciliation after decades of silence and bitterness. The father is the county judge, and\u00a0the son, Hank,\u00a0is an arrogant hotshot lawyer. (His tagline: \u201cInnocent people can\u2019t afford me.\u201d) When their wife and mother dies, Hank\u2019s return re-opens old family wounds. And just when it seems things couldn\u2019t get worse, his father is involved in an accident that looks suspiciously like murder. What\u2019s more, the\u00a0Judge is suffering from memory loss and can\u2019t recall any of it. There\u2019s only one decent choice for Hank: Stay\u00a0and defend his old man in court. But that may be easier said than done.
\nThe father-son bonding premise intrigued me, and after watching this trailer<\/a>, I was hooked by the acting and the writing (note<\/strong>: one crude slang term). I decided to see the film and give it my own verdict. My verdict is that\u00a0The Judge\u00a0<\/em>is simultaneously the best\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>most frustrating movie I\u2019ve seen all year.\u00a0
\nI can give two reasons right off the bat why it\u2019s the best, and they both start with a D: Downey and Duvall. In a word: Dynamite. These two actors are\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>intense on the screen together, I believed every word of every scene they played. I believed the pain, the anger, the regret, and beneath it all, the love between this stubborn mule of a father and this selfish jerk of a son. The critics say it\u2019s sentimental hogwash. They must have\u00a0watched the wrong\u00a0movie.\u00a0This<\/em>\u00a0movie is an honest, wrenching\u00a0depiction of what re-building a relationship looks like.
\nAs in real life, the humbling process is not a smooth curve. Moments of real love and tenderness alternate with moments of explosive rage. In one of the most moving\u00a0scenes, the Judge is struggling to walk and unable to control his bodily functions. Hank gently helps his father into the tub and begins to shower him down. And\u00a0right\u00a0<\/em>at that moment, his little daughter knocks on the bathroom door. \u201cWhat are you doing in there?\u201d The men look at each other and begin to laugh softly. \u201cWhat do you say?\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a beautiful moment, and yet several scenes later, they\u2019re at it hammer and tongs all over again. Hank\u2019s younger brother Dale sums it all up in a scene\u00a0shortly after the Judge\u2019s fateful accident. Hank is driving and asking his\u00a0father a rapid-fire series of questions, and as the exchange peaks, he slams the brake and flies backwards into the driveway, stopping just short of the garage. As his brothers watch from a distance, Dale observes, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t let them drive together.\u201d
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/suffolkvoice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/The-Judge-Movie.jpg\")
\nBoth of the brothers are well done. Dale is autistic and\u00a0carries a vintage camera everywhere with him, obsessively filming family moments. Oldest brother Glen is the good son, the well-adjusted family man who put down his roots in the family\u2019s small Indiana town. One\u00a0of the deepest wounds between Hank and his father is that Glen lost a promising baseball career\u00a0when he injured his hand in a highschool car accident. And Hank was behind the wheel, high on drugs. While Glen himself is content with his lot, the Judge has never forgiven Hank.\u00a0In a wonderful scene between the brothers during the trial, Glen is close to a breakdown and lets out some of his own built-up hurt. Hank offers him an assuring pat on the back, and Glen shrugs it off, sensing condescension. \u201cDon\u2019t pat me. Don\u2019t pat me. I\u2019m the older brother here, you don\u2019t pat me.\u201d
\nBesides\u00a0being a compelling\u00a0story of fathers and sons, The Judge\u00a0<\/em>is an excellent\u00a0legal drama that\u00a0delves into profound\u00a0questions about justice, mercy, truth, and conscience. Watching Judge Palmer\u00a0as the case unfolds, we feel the weight of the man, the power and the dignity, even as his body begins to fail his mind. We can almost palpably sense this formidable presence that fills the courtroom\u2014fiercely proud, abidingly committed to the law, and valuing his own integrity above anything. Crucially, his pride keeps him from allowing Hank to use his illness as a mitigating circumstance in court. In an especially refreshing bit of dialogue, he expresses admiration for Ronald Reagan, lamenting that \u201cAny mention of his legacy ends with jellybeans, naps and Alzheimer\u2019s.\u201d I won\u2019t drop any spoilers about the final verdict, but I\u2019ll just say that\u00a0I thought I could\u00a0stay a step ahead of the plot. Then it\u00a0caught me off guard\u00a0with a major twist. Then it knocked me for a loop\u00a0with an equally unexpected finale that stuns\u00a0even the odious prosecutor into something like compassion, something like awe. (The prosecutor is played by Billy Bob Thornton, in fine scenery-chewing form.) There\u2019s this one line in particular that\u2019s\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>good, and the symbolism\u2026 ahhhh, but I won\u2019t give it away.
\nReflecting on the film\u2019s themes, Downey, Jr. has said,\u00a0\u201cI love a movie that speaks of unrequited things and coming to terms. In life you must show up for uncomfortable things. Often, what you find in the end is some clarity and some dignity.\u201d
\nWell said. Unfortunately, this movie is not unalloyed gold. In the middle of everything else, Hank is getting a divorce. It\u2019s not quite clear who\u2019s leaving whom, but consensus seems to be that Hank is dissolving it. The\u00a0character of his wife is barely developed. We\u00a0learn that she\u2019s been depressed (understandably, given the kind of man Hank is) and had a one-time fling with someone else. They\u2019re battling over custody of the little girl, who\u2019s a very sharp tac. She surprises Hank by asking when the divorce will be finalized, and he fumbles lamely that this kind of thing\u00a0\u201ctakes a long time\u2026\u00a0happens in stages.\u201d \u201cYour stuff is in boxes,\u201d she observes. \u201cThat\u2019s a stage.\u201d
\nMeanwhile, Hank\u2019s old highschool flame is conveniently still single and waiting for him back in the old place.\u00a0We\u2019re supposed to\u00a0assume she has a heart of gold, never mind the fact that she\u2019s repeatedly urging a married man to cozy up and settle down with her. This begets\u00a0a gratuitous\u00a0rabbit trail of a\u00a0subplot involving her (and, blindly, her grown out-of-wedlock daughter, in a particularly unsavory\u00a0sequence). Needless to say, this\u00a0distracts mightily from the movie and its attempt to strike a lofty, moral tone. She even ruins the denouement with one final \u201coffer\u201d that he plans to accept, the larger implication being that he will indeed settle down with her and\u00a0become a complete man. Thankfully, the actual\u00a0closing sequence ends\u00a0on an uplifting note that brings the movie back to its main focus, but the promise of more infidelity dulls the uplift.
\nAdmittedly,\u00a0the whole thing does\u00a0fit the movie\u2019s man-centric, testosterone-laden oeuvre, but it undercuts its own message to men by implying\u00a0that all that stuff about taking responsibility for your actions comes with a built-in exception for cheating on your wife. Three cheers for Real Manhood(TM)!\u00a0Critics and movie-goers alike have commented that\u00a0this subplot would\u00a0serve the film much better\u00a0on the cutting room floor. Self-edit it out for yourself, and I guarantee you\u2019ll miss nothing significant. Of course, the movie thinks<\/em>\u00a0the girlfriend is\u00a0significant to Hank\u2019s transformation, which is the problem.
\nHank\u2019s failed marriage is also the only weak point in the interactions with his father. The first time the Judge brings it up, he taunts Hank with it\u00a0during a heated argument. Then much later in the film,\u00a0he\u00a0apologizes, and Hank asks him seriously what he would do. But his father can offer nothing except an \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d and \u201cDo you think you can make each other happy again?\u201d Really? This should be one of the most vital conversations a man has with his son, and that\u2019s what we get.\u00a0Interestingly, this is also the only conversation where God gets a mention. Hanks asks out of the blue if his father believes in God, and we get one line: \u201cI\u2019m 72 years old with stage 4 cancer. What choice do I have?\u201d Hey, great conversation starter\u2026 except it\u2019s a conversation ender.
\nNeedless to say, The Judge<\/em> is not a Christian film (there\u2019s a lot of very harsh language flying around to boot), nor is it even a particularly political film. But something about it seems to be rubbing critics the wrong way. Some of the criticism is\u00a0justified. Besides the bad sub-plot and over-long running time (I counted at least four potential ending scenes), there are a few other heavy-handed moments in the script. For example, a pivotal family conflict takes place during a literal tornado, which seems like symbolic overkill. There are also a couple of\u00a0plot holes that have been fairly pointed out. Still,\u00a0most of the criticism boils down to the tone. Progressives want to write it off as sentimental, small-town, father-son bonding mush\u2014presumably because it takes small towns, fathers and sons seriously. The\u00a0core of The Judge\u00a0<\/em>is deeply American and deeply masculine. Both are\u00a0considered faux pas in today\u2019s entertainment milieu. The\u00a0un-ironic positive reference to Reagan is part of that tone as well, and I\u2019m sure it also garnered some eyerolls among the elite.
\nFor my own part, as I mulled the film\u00a0over the other day, something clicked that made sense of it all\u2014the good parts, the bad parts, the solid moral foundation undergirding one scene and the shifting sand our characters flounder through in the next. This is what I realized: The Judge represents exactly how far the American ethic can take you. On the one hand, it takes you to some true and beautiful places. It affirms things we know intuitively are natural, right and good about manhood, justice, and honor.
\nBut like all good things, masculinity becomes an idol when it\u2019s revered uncritically, and this film doesn\u2019t seem too concerned about the less honorable side of that coin. Its tone towards Hank\u2019s dalliances is an \u201cOops, that happened!\u201d at best, and at worst it\u2019s actively nudging him away from his marriage. The father-son relationship is rich and full of wisdom, until the really hard questions about God and fidelity arise\u2014then it abruptly falters and trails off. Why? The movie\u2019s moral code is not ultimately based on God\u2019s word. It\u2019s a noble pagan\u2019s code, which means it gets some important things right and fails spectacularly on other important things. Ultimately, it can\u2019t save a man\u2019s marriage, nor can it save his soul.
\nAnd that\u2019s why I consider The Judge <\/em>to be the\u00a0most disappointing film of the year. In its best, most profound\u00a0moments, it reduced me to a puddle of tears and tissues. It\u2019s still something I would recommend for fathers and grown sons to see. But it could have been so much more. It could have been great, when instead it is merely good. It wants to celebrate good things, but it doesn\u2019t have all the pieces of the puzzle that would allow it to celebrate them in their proper context.\u00a0As The Judge says:
\n\u201cLet\u2019s have a toast. To whatever, I don\u2019t know, but let\u2019s have a toast.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"