The Judge 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: It wants to be many movies, and fails at being even one of them. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Just watching snarky Chicago lawyer Robert Downey Jr. spar with crotchety father Robert Duvall as he tries to defend the small-town Indiana jurist on a murder rap is worth the price of admission. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Equal parts courtroom drama, legal thriller and family saga, it's also a synchronized duet for two terrific actors at the top of their craft that left me stunned. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You wish it were better. But "The Judge," eventually, wears its viewer down, despite the best efforts of an irresistible cast. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Billed as a heavyweight championship bout, The Judge is more a middle-of-the-card time-passer. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: An engrossing, unwieldy hurricane of a movie that plays likea small-town courtroom thriller by way of a testosterone-fueled remake of "August: Osage County." Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: It's better than one would expect from the director of Shanghai Knight and Fred Claus, without being especially interesting in any regard. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Any references you can think of in an estranged father-son drama are present here, and they aren't presented with any particular spark of imagination. Luckily for Dobkin, Downey and Duvall are able to provide some. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The leads are typecast to perfection -- Downey glib and aggressive, Duvall principled and crotchety -- but the legal drama is freighted with stale family and interpersonal conflicts, and the comic relief is unfortunate Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Of the 141 minutes in "The Judge," roughly 70 work well, hold the screen and allow a ripe ensemble cast the chance to do its thing, i.e., act. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: There are a number of fine reasons to see the courtroom-meets-family melodrama The Judge. As you might suspect, two stand out: actors Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Let's just say any film that has a high school romance rekindled, hints of incest, cancer, professional baseball, mental disability and repeated vomiting has too much going on, especially when some things have no tie to the basic story. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: [Duvall and Downey] may not be enough to counterbalance the bloat of the rest of the film, but they keep it from sinking under the weight of soggy sentimentality. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: I don't expect The Judge to usher in a new era of legal thrillers, but I'm happy to see Downey leave the Marvel universe and Baker Street behind. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: "Expendables 3" has fewer nauseating cliches than "The Judge." Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Even when the circumstances seem contrived, the actors mine moments of truth that resonate with raw emotion. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Duvall and Downey create a memorable mutual antipathy with echoes that go back as far as Raymond Massey squaring off against James Dean in "East of Eden." Read more

Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News: There were reports that Duvall initially turned down this script, only to reconsider because he wanted to work with Downey. Good call. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: While it's good to know that character-driven dramas still have a place at the movies, "The Judge" might have worked better as a television miniseries. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: More than two hours of sharp dialogue and great acting, if not particularly inventive plotting. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Always the most inscrutable of the great '70s actors, Duvall uses his great, unassuming American face to convey pride, confusion, pain and compassion - sometimes all at once. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: A sprawl of narrative that is as unconvincing as the suspiciously sprawl-free, nostalgia-tinged town where it all takes place. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: If "The Judge" proves anything, it's that talented, likable actors like Downey, Duvall, D'Onofrio and Farmiga can keep a mediocre movie humming. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The Judge is a tale of family dysfunction, the sins of the father and all that. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An overlong crowd-pleaser that mistakes a hackneyed catharsis for something more meaningful. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: An overstuffed, overlong slog of a legal drama. Director David Dobkin coats every cliche with cheap theatrics. Go ahead, see The Judge just for Downey and Duvall. But to cite another recent dud, this is where I leave you. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: It's "what people want." Whereas I say the hell with people and what they want. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The best thing about "The Judge" is watching Downey and Duvall, as actors, playing off each other. They listen and react and takes lines and moments to places that surprise us and seem to surprise them. Read more

Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Dobson ... may be a bit clumsy out of the gate with more sensitive material, but wisely gives his seasoned cast a lot of rope. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Despite playing with a stacked deck, "The Judge" is guilty of exceeding expectations. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A blue-chip cast struggles with an unwieldy script in The Judge, a hybrid comedy, family-reconciliation story and legal drama. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The Judge could have been just another courtroom procedural with extra family pathos, but it's got a third person with something to prove: director David Dobkin, who is better known for comedies such as Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: A charismatic performance from Downey Jr and the growling presence of Duvall make up for a multitude of sins in this big and brash family drama . Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's well-acted, with some occasional moments of clever dialogue, but the story is plodding, predictable and tension-free. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Do we really need to see Robert Duvall playing a withered grouch for the millionth time? Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: This is not by any means a bad movie. The script has its bright patches, the setting is picturesque, and the cast is full of actors you'll want to see. Read more