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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

After ten years playing edgy superheroes and oddballs, Robert Downey Jr returns to the real world with the kind of slick, mainstream Hollywood vehicle he was on track to make in the first place, before sobriety issues bumped him momentarily from the A-list. The good news is that Downey sparkles in the story of a smooth-talking, big-city lawyer who finds himself defending his estranged father (Robert Duvall) - the respected small-town judge of the title - on a hit-and-run murder charge after returning home for his mother's funeral. The bad news is that he (not to mention Duvall) deserves a much better showcase than this, a sentimental father-son story that builds towards, but then fumbles, a potentially gripping courtroom drama, while a cast of heavyweight supports, including an on-form Billy Bob Thornton as the silver-fox prosecuting attorney, stand around with little to do. It bodes well for Downey's post-Iron Man future, but, sadly, in this case, the promised sparks never fly.

How to watch

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Credits

Cast

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Hank PalmerRobert Downey Jr
Judge Joseph PalmerRobert Duvall
SamanthaVera Farmiga
Dwight DickhamBilly Bob Thornton
Glen PalmerVincent D'Onofrio
Dale PalmerJeremy Strong
CP KennedyDax Shepard
CarlaLeighton Meester
Judge WarrenKen Howard
Lauren PalmerEmma Tremblay
Deputy HansonBalthazar Getty
Lisa PalmerSarah Lancaster
Mike KattanDavid Krumholtz
Mrs BlackwellGrace Zabriskie
Doc MorrisDenis O'Hare

Crew

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DirectorDavid Dobkin

Details

Theatrical distributor
Warner Brothers Entertainment UK Ltd
Released on
2014-10-17
Languages
English | Japanese
Guidance
Swearing
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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