The Judge – Tuesday 25th March 2025

I hadn’t seen this Robert Downey Jr. Film before, and I have to say, it wasn’t great. We’ve seen this all before, done so much better. Country boy escapes his small town roots, becomes a big shot, but becomes an ass-hole in the process, until he’s forced to return to his small town, where he reconnects with his family and lost love, rediscovering his humanity on the way.

The film juggles this story with a father and son reconciliation, as well as a courtroom drama, and unfortunately none of the stories satisfy.

The courtroom drama is weak. The love story is weak, and even though most of the run time is devoted to the father and son reconciliation, despite some truly poignant scenes, even that ends up leaving the audience disappointed.

Downey Jr. is always likeable, so I shudder to think how unlikeable the protagonist would be with a different actor in the lead; but at the end of it all, you can’t really say that he earns a happy ending.

The whole thing just left me feeling unsatisfied. I’d rather re-watch ‘Doc Hollywood’ for the big shot in a small town story, or ‘My Cousin Vinny’ for the city lawyer / small town courtroom drama.