St. Downey of Hollywood Pays Penance in “The Judge”

By Michael James Gonzalez

Anybody-or perhaps more accurate, everybody-following the trajectory of Robert Downey Jr.’s career and life would agree that the themes running through middle period life-of-Downey include humility, personal responsibility, and redemption. Seemingly less by coincidence than by design, Downey’s new movie “The Judge” is so self-referential that while watching it it’s hard not to remember that the virtuoso actor spent almost a year in prison after already having a successful movie career, only to get out and have an even more wildly successful career. What “The Judge” feels like is Downey’s mea culpa for the sins of his past and for the arguably undeserved rewards he received post clean-and-sober-self-reflective-hyper-focused-Downey with the Ironman franchise. Here he plays a role so representative of his real-life persona that I’m not sure if he was acting or just being himself on camera. This is the first film produced by Downey’s production company Team Downey along with his producer wife, so clearly there was a very conscious approach to making this movie which so closely serves as a metaphor for Downey’s life path. Here’s the thing, though: it works. Despite the fact that “The Judge” incorporates many clichés and a script that relies heavily on screenwriting textbook formula, it’s a beautifully shot movie with universal themes, great performances, and an inspiring message we can all relate to. Downey plays Hank Palmer, a sleazy, successful defense attorney in Chicago with a young daughter he hardly sees and a wife who’s about to leave him. “Innocent people can’t afford me,” says Hank just as his personal life begins to unravel further when he’s forced to return to the small New England town of his youth for his mother’s funeral-a move that will ultimately force Hank to reexamine his life and question his priorities. There, Hank reunites with his two brothers, rekindles an old relationship with his high school sweetheart, and resumes his tumultuous relationship with his estranged father, a salty, well-respected judge who disapproves of Hank’s lifestyle. Robert Duvall plays the role of Judge Joseph Palmer with a craggy, bullheaded, no-nonsense characterization, and the scenes between him and Downey are quite powerful and touching. Vincent D’Onofrio plays Hank’s frustrated older brother whose baseball career was cut short due to an accident that was somewhat Hanks’ fault, and Jeremy Strong plays Hank’s seemingly autistic younger brother who records everything on an old film camera whose old footage gives us a glimpse into the happy Palmer family days. Vera Farmiga makes the most of her role, playing Hank’s old girlfriend, a waitress at the town café and the girl Hank left behind to attend a prestigious college. Just when Hank is about to leave and resume his big city life, the judge is accused of a hit-and-run murder and Hank is compelled to take the case. To be clear, the film isn’t a courtroom drama-although there are more and more scenes of courtroom proceedings as the story churns along-as much as it is a story about classic American family values. The secondary courtroom narrative serves to ramp up the tension as we know early that the resolution won’t come until the very end, meanwhile Hank attempts to heal his damaged family while unknowingly healing himself in the process. What is clear about the film are Downey’s real-life priorities, which compared to what they were more than a decade ago, raise him to the level of cultural saint now. And although “The Judge” probably won’t be remembered as a classic, it was well worth the effort to remind us of what should still be important in life. For that simple reason, I’m on Team Downey.

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