The Judge

A high-powered Chicago defense lawyer (Robert Downey Jr.), long estranged from his judge father (Robert Duvall), goes home for his mother's funeral—and has to stay to defend the old man against a charge of first-degree murder (his suitcase isn't the only baggage that gets unpacked). Director David Dobkin (who co-wrote with Nick Schenk and Bill Dubuque) goes light years beyond anything he's done before (Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers, Fred Claus) with a sharp, subtle, many-layered examination of legal ethics, family dynamics and festering regrets. The script feels like it was well-adapted from an excellent novel. The two Roberts are little short of brilliant—it's a titanic matchup—as is the supporting cast: Vincent D'Onofrio, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton, Dax Shepard, Ken Howard.