A bíró

A tárgyalóterem és az ott felelevenített események csupán díszletként szolgálnak egy családi drámához, amelyben a nagypolgári ifjabb Robert újjáéleszti kapcsolatát egy kispolgári családdal, amelynek élén az idősebb Robert áll. Az olyan jogi drámákkal, mint a Ha ölni kell vagy Az esőcsináló nem lehet összehasonlítani. A bíró félúton van közöttük és a szentimentális Marvin szobája között. Mindkét Robert nagyon jól játszik. Junior karaktere személyére van írva, szenior pedig bravúrosan kezeli a szerepét. Néhány mellékszereplő (Vera Farmiga szexi lánya, Dax Shepard tapasztalatlan ügyvédje) azonban feleslegesen lassítja a filmet. Nincs nagy jelentőségük a történetben, és csak zavarják a film középpontjában álló bonyolult fiú-apa kapcsolat fejlődését. Bill Bob Thornton érdekes ügyvédje viszont nagyobb szerepet is kaphatott volna. Thomas Newman (Frank Darabont, Sam Mendes) egykor innovatív és magasztos zenéje a fogyasztói közönség számára az elcsépelt szentimentális "léleksimogatás" szinonimájává válik. Ez az, amivé A bíró is válik a fináléban. Remek film, de a kreatív csapata nagyobb szintet érdemel. (2014.10.29)

The Judge is a quality film that deals mostly with real emotions and is adorned with truly brilliant performances that make it as smooth to watch as the aerial pirouettes of pink elephants after taking LSD, but with the arrival of the closing credits, it leaves us with the feeling that this unique creative line-up deserved something more than this kind of easygoing filmmaking. Downey's scatterbrained egotistical character is irresistible, but unfortunately he represents the only rebellious and prominent element in an otherwise precisely measured process where the fates of the supporting players are irrelevant, while the development of the dramatic relationship between the two central characters sets a cinematic precedent. Duvall gives a terrific performance, of course, but Downey is the one that’s more visible and adds more juice to the story. Everything proceeds and ends as it should, but the forcibly pushed twist with the label "family above all" just doesn’t fit into the overall context full of heartless judgments, remorse and generational disputes. Or maybe it manipulates the witnesses quite blatantly. 70% (2015.02.20)

Very good oscillation between a court process and a family drama about establishing a relationship between small town people and city dwellers – portrayed in a graspable and clear enough way, even for the average viewer. You won’t get bored in court and will the family scenes because their timing scenes is great, and you will fully enjoy those few rough peaks of the story. It's a shame about the irrelevant script deviations (the supporting characters), the slightly excessive much sentimentality at the end, and Billy Bob Thornton's unused potential, because his first scene in gives you goosebumps (yes, that scene with the folding glass). Nevertheless, the film achieves the main thing it was supposed to achieve. It's believable, sober, and true to life. Brilliant performances. (2015.02.21)

The only thing this film can offer is good acting. Everything else just undermines it. Firstly, it tells a story about judges and for the most part it takes place in the courtroom. Which doesn’t have to be a drawback in itself, had it been well made. There is only one real courtroom moment, but it’s only at the end of the movie – it represents its climax and is also the only good moment this movie has. Secondly, a huge issue with this movie lies in its running time, which is too long given how little happens in there. Already in the first fifteen minutes you’ll understand the situation and how it will develop. Then it all, surprisingly, happens exactly as it would in real life and the audience has no choice but to wait for the ending. The ending is fortunately really good and shows the acting qualities of Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thornton. Unfortunately, you have to suffer a hundred minutes of boredom to see this. (2015.02.08)

A very, very long film, completely unnecessarily so. Although at first glance it would seem that there are a lot of characters to tell a story about, the opposite is true and it's still all about the father and son, with the others being more or less just unnecessary or unused ornaments (Billy Bob Thornton in particular). In addition, I saw The Judge in a failed Czech version, with Robert Duvall speaking to me in the completely inappropriate voice of Jiří Štěpnička (who, unlike his fellow "dubbers", at least tried to act). Two and a half. (2015.03.23)