Movie Review: "The Judge"

"The Judge": B+. Courtroom dramas are hard scripts to sell to audiences convincingly if authenticity is a goal of the moviemakers.  The main obstacles are the abundance of evidentiary rules and rules of civil procedure which are important components in actual litigation.  Most civil and criminal trials are not nearly as interesting in real life as Hollywood portrays them.  For example, surprise witnesses, which seem to constitute a staple of Hollywood trials, almost never materialize in real life, because the court's procedural rules not only require each side to disclose its witness list ahead of trial, but to reveal essentially what each witness will state under oath.  Another stark contrast is that in a real criminal trial, the defendant's lawyer's sole mission is to convince the jury that reasonable doubt exists, thereby resulting in a not-guilty verdict.  It is important to note that there's a big difference in the eyes of the law between "not guilty" and "innocent."  In Hollywood films, that distinction is often lost.  There, the defense attorney usually not only gets his client off the hook, but solves the crime too by identifying the real bad guy, a la Perry Mason.  In short, the filmmakers bend the rules a little bit for the purpose of engaging the audience.

When I choose a courtroom drama for my movie selection, I want to be entertained just like everybody else.  But I also want what's portrayed on screen to bear strong resemblance to what would transpire in real life if presented with the same facts.  In other words, to borrow a phrase often used by my father when he saw a war movie which was ridiculously inauthentic, I don't want to see a legal "fairy story."  One of the characteristics I appreciated while watching The Judge is that, for the most part, it is not a fairy story.

The tone is set early on when Hank Palmer (Robert Downey, Jr.) is packing to travel from Chicago to fictional Carlinville, Indiana for his mother's funeral.  He tries to distinguish for his inquisitive little daughter the difference between his mother, who is biologically dead, and his father, "who is dead to me.  It's just a figure of speech."  The father to whom he refers is also the title character, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), a veteran of almost forty years on the bench.  Although his courthouse is in a small river town far removed from the national legal scene, Judge Palmer's constant concern is the legacy he will leave behind once he no longer possesses the gavel.  He compares himself to Ronald Reagan, whom the judge believes should be remembered as a great president who presided over the end of the Cold War, instead of the White House occupant who enjoyed frequent naps and ate jelly beans.  The judge takes his job seriously and is well respected, if not feared, throughout Carlinville, yet he's haunted by a sentencing decision he made years ago which will indirectly lead to his own freedom and reputation being put at risk.

In addition to Hank, Judge Palmer has two other adult sons who both live in town.  Glen (Vincent D'Onofrio), the oldest, was a promising pitcher whose career was cut short as a result of an automobile accident, the details of which we learn piecemeal.  The youngest, Dale (Jeremy Strong), is autistic but high functioning.  His hobby is shooting and editing sixteen millimeter film.  At times Dale draws his family's sympathy, other times its scorn.

Hank Palmer is a sharp but shady defense attorney, whose compliance with the ethical expectations of the bar is borderline.  "Innocent clients can't afford me," he tells opposing counsel during a testy men's room conversation.  One would think that high roller Hank would book himself a room in a nice local hotel, but then that would eliminate several of the family interactions among the brothers and their father.  Instead, Hank bunks down in the judge's big old house.  He hates being in Carlinville, and can hardly wait to fly back to Chicago.  But after his mother's funeral he gets an SOS call from Glen minutes before the plane's scheduled departure.  Their father has been accused of a felony, and Glen (unbeknownst to the judge) persuades Hank that the old man needs Hank's services.

The best moments in the film take place in the courtroom.  The prosecutor is not the County Attorney, but a hot shot prosecutor from Gary, Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton), who is equipped to match wits with the Chicago trial ace.  It turns out Dickham has some history with Hank.  Billy Bob looks quite dashing in his trial togs, and is convincing as a skilled barrister.  The criminal trial judge, Judge Warren, is played by none other than The White Shadow himself, Ken Howard.  One of the several humorous segments occurs during the voir dire (aka jury selection), when people from the jury pool are selected or rejected for the trial.  Hank does not ask them the usual questions, preferring instead to inquire about what their vehicle bumper stickers state.  One man in the pool claims that his bumper sticker reads, "Gun control means two hands on the revolver."  Hank accepts him without further questions.

We are also treated to a subplot involving Hank and his old high school flame, Samantha (Vera Farmiga), who is the owner of The Firefly, a busy watering hole.   Samantha is the mother of Carla (Leighton Meester), a law school student whom Hank gets to know up close and personal in a phone booth.    There are some nice moments between Samantha and Hank, but their scenes together are not essential to the story.  One note of interest is that Farmiga, at age forty-one, is only thirteen years older than Meester.  Well, they both do look younger than their ages.  No wonder they're actresses.