Robert Downey Jr. has a complicated career with many fascinating twists and turns. He recently reasonably bemoaned the unfair treatment of his stellar performances as Tony Stark. Certain outlets are loathe to praise work in studio genre projects, but his other outings are less financially successful. His attempts to walk in both worlds have produced unimaginable triumphs and unimpressive messes. The Judge seemed forgotten, but it may have attained a new life as the second most-watched movie on HBO Max.
Robert Downey Jr.’s The Judge Finally Finds its Audience
The Judge dropped between Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. It and his bit part in Jon Favreau’s Chef were the only non-MCU projects Robert Downey Jr. took on between The Avengers and Endgame. I think it’s reductive to argue he should stick to Marvel movies after seeing him try a different genre, but that was a common refrain in reviews of The Judge. It’s somewhere in the middle of his filmography. It’s ultimately less than the sum of its parts. The cast is excellent. Downey Jr. is comfortable in a familiar role, a fast-talking, superficial, rich savant with daddy issues. Robert Duval steps in as his stubborn father, the titular Judge. When his aging father faces a murder charge after a fatal car crash with an ex-convict, he’s forced to return to his hometown to defend him. That’s an excellent premise, but its execution falters.
The Judge raked in over $80 million on a budget between $45 and $50 million. It may have earned a profit, though marketing costs could have drained that hefty return. It fared slightly worse with critics. The Judge holds a 48% positive rating from 201 reviews. Most professionals praise the beautiful cinematography, solid performances, and intriguing premise. They tend to denigrate the film’s poorly developed side characters, bizarre pacing, and dull sentimentality. That self-indulgent soppiness offended the world’s critics but endeared the film to its audience. It has a 72% positive score from over 25,000 amateur reviews. The Judge can thank Latin America for its current reintroduction to HBO Max’s top ten. It’s the second most-watched film on the service today. It strikes me as a perfect film for hanging out with your older relatives, but Latin America seems to have found something more enjoyable in it.
The Judge seems like a passion project for Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall. Even when he was doing billion-dollar projects for Marvel, his relationship with his dad was an inextricable part of his characters. That central thread makes The Judge a fascinating companion to something like Civil War or Oppenheimer. RDJ completionists, a subset of humans I assume to exist, have probably already sat through The Judge. It’s far from obscure, though it dropped directly into the cultural memory hole after its brief release window. The Judge could have been a considerably more compelling story than it turned into. It’s not quite an elevated Hallmark Movie, but the sad state of the finished product still leaves things to be desired. The Judge is available and doing great on HBO Max if you want to judge for yourself.
