The Judge

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2:14

The Judge

R

Released Oct 10, 2014

2h 21m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

49%

Tomatometer

198 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.), a brilliant but shady attorney, returns to his Indiana hometown after learning that his mother has passed away. His arrival triggers renewed tension between himself and his father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), who makes no secret of his disapproval of Hank's morally ambiguous career. As the lawyer prepares to depart, his father is arrested for a hit-and-run death. Hank takes on his father's defense, despite the objections of the resentful old man.

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Critics Consensus

Solidly cast and beautifully filmed but thoroughly clichéd, The Judge seems destined to preside over a large jurisdiction of the basic cable afternoon-viewing circuit.

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Donald Clarke

Irish Times

Objection! Meretricious sentimentality! Objection! Badgering the audience! Where is this leading, your honour?

Rated: 2/5

Oct 20, 2014

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

As the verdict draws closer, the sentimental silliness and courtroom cliches pile up ...

Rated: 3/5

Oct 19, 2014

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Kate Muir

The Times (UK)

Unfortunately, when Downey is not centre-stage the drama becomes leaden, sentimental and utterly improbable.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 17, 2014

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Ankit Ojha

Cinema Elite

[...] as predictable as it sounds, “The Judge” is anything but that. The film might be a family drama, but it’s refreshingly adult [...] and filled with surprising emotional honesty.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jul 9, 2024

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The familiarity of the story hurts what is Dobkin's otherwise pleasantly sincere and straightforward direction, and a number of fine performances.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jul 18, 2022

Full Review

Dan Brightmore

NME (New Musical Express)

Robert Duvall gives a startlingly visceral performance in Robert Downey Jr's courtroom drama.

Rated: 4/5

May 26, 2021

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Niccoló S

Probably the best work of RDJ. This movie is touching and extremely well shot and directed. The love story/sub plot is pretty useless and steals time and rhythm to a movie otherwise very good

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/13/25

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Les K

Once again, the artsy fartsy pretentious critics blow more smoke up each others arses, and those that believe their arrogant opinions will miss watching a really entertaining flick. Good story, great acting, great cinematography. Just a really solid, very interesting and entertaining look at a semi-dysfunctional father son relationship. Don’t listen to the pinkie up pretentious critics. Watch this. You’ll be glad you did. I don’t even bother looking at the critics scores anymore. Just leave it to us common folk for some honest appraisals.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/15/25

Full Review

Gary W

Movie is a great family watch. Just because I think it may be cliche and predictable, I know the average is human and is like “wow, good flick.” Robeert Downey is in top 10 on conversalist if that’s a a word, but he kills it and it, I think it’s a flick worth throwing out to fams or couples that haven’t seen it. Just sayin

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/02/24

Full Review

Deklan P

The "top critics" must be miserable people. This is one of my favorite movies. Great journey through the story, character development, and impressive acting. It brought both tears and laughter.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/17/24

Full Review

Blue H

Relatively good script but then add Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall and now we have something worth watching. Overall I very much enjoyed watching, just thought the ending could have been different/better.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/04/24

Full Review

Corey A

They didn’t spend enough time in the beginning with the main character for you to like him. For me personally I have the exact same relationship with my father so it was hard to watch. The best thing is just to cut people like that out. The brother of the main character wasn’t cast correctly either. They should have had a more leading female in the mix.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

06/20/24

Full Review

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David Dobkin

Director

Robert Downey Jr.

Hank Palmer

Robert Duvall

Judge Joseph Palmer

Vera Farmiga

Samantha Powell

Billy Bob Thornton

Dwight Dickham

Vincent D'Onofrio

Glen Palmer

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The Judge: Trailer 1

2:14

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Synopsis

Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.), a brilliant but shady attorney, returns to his Indiana hometown after learning that his mother has passed away. His arrival triggers renewed tension between himself and his father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), who makes no secret of his disapproval of Hank's morally ambiguous career. As the lawyer prepares to depart, his father is arrested for a hit-and-run death. Hank takes on his father's defense, despite the objections of the resentful old man.

Director: David Dobkin
Producer: Susan Downey, David Dobkin, David Gambino
Screenwriter: Nick Schenk, Bill Dubuque
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Big Kid Pictures, Team Downey
Rating: R (Some Sexual References|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 10, 2014, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 5, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.7M
Runtime: 2h 21m
Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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