THE JUDGE

Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall. Like watching Art Tatum and Max Roach trade fours (Duvall as Tatum etc.). Exquisite demonstration of movie acting chops. The story is at times predictable, but if you like family dramas and/or courtroom dramas, this is one of the better versions of both combined.

The entire cast is terrific. Including Vera Farmiga, who I often don't like except when she's playing a bitch, which seems to underlie every character she plays, even sympathetic ones. But in THE JUDGE she plays a competent, mature, beautiful, independent woman and pulls it off perfectly.

As Vicent D'Onofrio pulls of the big brother role, and especially Jeremy Strong as the mentally challenged brother (not really the best description since the character is in many ways more mentally capable than the "normal" characters). Billy Bob Thornton has a smaller role he performs in a surprisingly successful understated way. Everyone's good.

There were enough surprises in the otherwise standard story line to keep my interest and to satisfy the expectations of the genre, but the main reason THE JUDGE is worth watching is what I said at the top, Downey and Duvall. Let me know if you agree.