The Judge : Totally overrated. Nothing really happens. Boring

Just that

I think people get carried away with the names of the cast, but nothing interesting happens.

Downey and Duvall are great but the movie is just no interesting
No suspense, no twists, no flavors of any kind
Totally decaffeinated

My friend could have cared less about who was in it, and he enjoyed the film fine. You didn't and that's cool. Doesn't mean the people who did are merely star struck.

"Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind."

I agree. Boring as *beep* film.

Think you might be responding to the OP, because clearly we don't agree at all. ;)

"Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind."

Oh really? So you COULD have cared less? So that means you did actually care who was in it.

Exactly. He cares. He could care less. But he won't.

He was making out that he didn't actually want to care though Although he did care.

These are the same people who say 'all of the sudden' and 'a whole nother one'. The kind that Stewie Griffin would send to camps.



then whoa, differences

I agree with OP. Boring movie. RDJ is as annoying of a cocky prick as in Iron Man.

You mean couldn't have cared less.

"Overrated"? Lol! Reviews were mixed. No one thought this was the best movie ever. If it were any more overrated, the studio would end up owing money (they may anyway).

Boring!? Wow. This is excellent story telling, with complex characters that make you think about life, love, choices and consequences. If you come from an imperfect family, and most of us come from one, I cannot see how one wouldn't relate to this story. I laughed and cried.

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This is excellent story telling

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Nah. Far from it. This is just a formulaic, paint-by-numbers courthouse drama. It has exactly the same cocky, overconfident lawyer as a lead, exactly the same rhetoric, exactly the same forced drama with the jury announcing their decision every movie of the genre has The only difference is that the cocky, overconfident lawyer lost the case at the end.
The family drama part was a bit better, thanks to the actors, but still





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So what if it's formulaic? Law & Order is the definition of formulaic and it was quite enjoyable and successful.

Frankly, the overwhelming majority of Hollywood films are formulaic. There really is no reason to target this one film for it.

"Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind."

"Law & Order" is a TV-show. 'The Judge' is a movie, and it has some of the top actors of our time.
And when there is a courthouse drama led by Vin Diesel that wipes the floor with a courthouse drama led by Robert Downey Jr., there is a problem with the latter.





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Um, Law & Order also has a lot of top actors. And the whole "movies are better than TV" thing is old fashioned.

"Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel. Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night."

Movies now are better than American TV from the 90s. This is simply a fact. Besides, it is forgivable for an endless TV-show to follow a formula.
It is not forgivable for a potential Oscar contender to follow the formula of a TV-show.
Writing-wise 'The Judge' is an extended episode of "Suits". Nothing more. Robert Downey is Harvey Specter, the other lawyer is Mike Ross at the beginning, the judge is the tough client. There are even some intentionally comedic moments.





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I can just as easily state as "fact" that Hollywood movies haven't been better than parallel TV in a long time.

See, "forgivable"? You think of formulaic as a put down. It's not automatically a bad thing. Most artists would give their first born to uncover a formula that works.

And again, most court dramas do follow a fairly standard pattern. If you put down one for that, you have to put them all down.

"Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel. Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night."

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I can just as easily state as "fact" that Hollywood movies haven't been better than parallel TV in a long time.

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That has nothing to do with what I said. I don't see any reason for you to mention it.

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You think of formulaic as a put down. It's not automatically a bad thing.

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In this case it is.

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Most artists would give their first born to uncover a formula that works.

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So what?

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And again, most court dramas do follow a fairly standard pattern. If you put down one for that, you have to put them all down.

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Actually, no. The good courthouse dramas are not blindly following the same formula.
And I am sorry but this movie was obviously made with the intent to win awards. Otherwise they would make it more lighthearted. Which means it must not be so formulaic.





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Otherwise they would make it more lighthearted.

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More lighthearted? A great deal of dialogue is devoted to jokey interactions between the characters. My theater was laughing at all the right parts throughout the movie, of which there were many. How much more lighthearted do you want it to be?

If we're talking about Oscar bait, usually there is a combination of both the drama and the humor. Even Sophie's Choice has its light hearted moments.

"Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel. Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night."

The comedy bits looked like they came out of a different movie. 'The Judge' was as a whole dead serious.





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The humor might not be what some people expect from this type of movie, but I didn't feel like it was a huge disconnect. Agree to disagree. :)

"Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel. Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night."

Could you kindly give examples where you are right and the other poster is wrong? Because so far all I see are your opinions with no proof backing them. And as we all know, that doesn't stand up in court.

I agree with you. Loved the movie.

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No suspense, no twists, no flavors of any kind

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I thought the movie was predictable, emotionally manipulative and disingenuous but if you evaluate a movie by the presence or lack of twists, then congratulations, you'll be happy with all the bs that's going to get spewed out of Hollywood for the next 100 years because they make movies for morons.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

Exactly where was it predictable, emotionally manipulative and disingenuous? I'm doubting you know the meaning of these words.

Yep, couldn't agree more - adds nothing to the genre, oversold, trailer completely misleading, schmaltzy crap mostly phoned in by all.

Please no more of this selling, what could have been a really interesting pic descended into cliched poop.

That.or you are just a complete philistine. Why does a movie have to have suspense, twists and surprise. I suspect your reading list (if you read) is all pulp fiction

thats the only thing you could see in the movie? If you can't go deeper and deeper into that movie it doesnt mean the movie is plain.
To me this film does a restoration of what fatherhood means. Its a rare thing these days. The general trend is that you must be rebellious and fight actively against laws, rules and every patriarchal value
Well this movie reveals what a father means in ones life.
The father is the one capable to reveal you to yourself.
The big shot lawyer, from the big city, facing the hidden wound of his fathers soul. An old wound made by nobody else but him. The rebellious son.
The father is hurt by the sons impertinence and insolence to the point he becomes a criminal. A good man, a fair judge becomes a criminal.
The big shot lawyer realizes that, through his arrogant and insolent attitude he destroyed his brothers life; and the father still suffers to the point he accidentally kills someone. Someone reminding him of his son. Father has tried so hard to destroy sons insolence and make him see his mistake and the flaws of his personality in order to convince him to make a correction. He failed. For a father thats a heavy pain.
Fathers failure leads to sons professional failure he cant save his father from the prison. But at least the son sees himself as he is. A bit of reparation is done.
Not everybody can empathize with that story.
I do and probably Im not the only one.
There is also a part of that movie where I totally see myself. When the judge meets his granddaughter, Hanks daughter.
My paternal grandfather was the person I loved the most from my family. He was the one loving me the most and he was the only person I could talk to without any explanation. He spoiled me like nobody else. He used to be an extremely severe father to my dad; just like may dad was and still is to me; you know nothing changes as they grow old. My grandmother used to say: look at him now, I cant believe it! if you only knew how he was as a father with your dad
Truth is, fathers love is a constraining force preparing you for life and its a privilege having a father. Many feel it like a negative force; but what bliss is having a father! That makes you be invincible; Why? Because behind that constraining force; the driven energy is an incredibly amount of love. That love is revealed only to the next generation; dad can't afford to show that love to you; he can't show you weakness! maybe to your kids but not to you.
I posted this message b/c there are very few movies praising fathers values in ones life.
Its understandable! I may sound paranoiac but there are many groups of interests wanting you to be weak and frail in order to manipulate you easily.
So, movies like The Judge are rare.


In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

totally agreed with you. by the way, did he really screwed his own daughter?

If you're asking, it can't have been that boring. ;)

"Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel. Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night."

no, turned out that he made out with his niece. Leighton Meester's character ended up being his brother Glen's daughter.

it isn't alot better.but it sure as hell could've been worse.

nowhere does it show he screwed anyone. he made out with what turned out to be his niece, but he didn't know that she was his niece, the father of the young lady (D'Onofrio's character) doesn't even know he has a daughter. only one person knew who her dad was until Downey's character found out towards the end. now, when he did the math HE thought he had made out with his daughter, but he didn't.

First of, not his daughter, the father was his brother Glen. Second, no he did not.

This trend where people like to use the phrase "nothing really happened/happens" to describe movies they didn't enjoy is just downright ignorant.
99% of Hollywood movies follow the same 4 act formula. Lots of things happened. You may not have enjoyed the events that took place in this film.
Compare this formula to a movie you did enjoy and it follows the same formula, just different "things" happened that you may have found more entertaining. Don't be so obtuse.

I thought it was pretty boring.

Have to agree. Well acted. Well made. Still bored me to death. This movie did absolutely nothing for me.

obviously , people are so much influenced by super action films and effects that can't enjoy a rather everyday scenario , human characters with flaws and ordinary lives and prefer fists over reason (as a way to solve problems).
Glad to see RDJ getting away from Tony Stark for an instant. I'm a marvel fan , but when the film begun i saw a clever cocky mother*ucker acting like he is untouchable. Well the guy had his own problems and hard times. And i soon was looking at Lawyer Palmer and not at Iron Man.

RDJ played the EXACT same character moron. He was never LEAD material he doesn't have the talent to carry a movie.

Someone needs to do some research.

"He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy! Now, piss off!" - Free speech forever! :)

Never lead material What's the newest movie you've watched with him? The Pick-Up Artist? I could say, be miserable somewhere else, but I've seen that you spread your negativity at least all over IMDB.

has a thing for the dude portraying the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude

Absolutely spot-on post TC. just finished this mess last night and felt the exact same! how is this rated as highly as it is is beyond me. Great indie films are absolutely pummeling the crap coming out of Hollywood today.

Same here.
I am an avid movie watcher but damn the movie was boring.

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Overrated and boring. Do not waste your time with

Totally agree. I hac Higher expectations, i expected a real drama; but seems more as those Tv movies that You watch because there's nothing else.

As a former avid TV movie watcherI disagree. This was very much a real drama.

"He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy! Now, piss off!" - Free speech forever! :)

I thought I accidentally ended up on the board for "boyhood" lol!

To me I was interested from beginning to end. It's such a good prodigal son returns movie, and if you care (which I did), you want to know why the father and son are so estranged yet clearly connected.

It got me right in the feels!

"WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW, huh?! WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW!"

Hmm then why don't you watch movies that are designed to have suspense and twists?
Aren't you aware that not all cinematography is about suspense and twists?
Just what kind of interesting did you expect from a movie about family, character, and ethics? It's kind of unfortunate that these thing bore you so much.

I'm going to ignore the drama here and just say I completely agree with the OP (and many critics) in that without the star power of the actors, this would never have gone beyond an ABC Sunday night movie (or something along those lines). It was just full of cheese, cliches, and awful pacing.

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