Post by Robert Downey Jr.
Much like his frequent collaborator/pretty much friend for life Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr. has been busy with a project that shows the world he can do more than throw on a costume and fight crime. In fact, David Dobkin's film The Judge has everyone's favorite billionaire flipping over the legal side of the coin, as he plays an arrogant lawyer who returns home to defend his father. With Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga, and Vincent D'Onofrio also taking part in the proceedings, it looks like this film actually has a lot going for it.
Robert Downey Jr. unveiled the trailer on his Facebook page today, as well as provided a short statement where he promotes the film personally. The reason being that he and his wife Susan are starting their new production partnership at Warner Bros with this film, and Team Downey is 150% behind The Judge. While the film promises to have the prerequisite laughs that a Robert Downey Jr. movie promises from the get go, the film is definitely aiming for more of a serious pitch. Even the poster looks like it belongs to a 1990's John Grisham adaptation that the studio was always famous for.
From the looks of the trailer, Downey and Robert Duvall are going to be pulling some serious dramatic weight in their dysfunctional on screen relationship. The usual tropes of a family member's death calling the estranged child home and the child and parent not seeing eye to eye are the basic core to this film's story. Yet, we've never seen them mixed together, much less at the center of a courtroom drama, which promises that The Judge will be using some old tricks in a new enough blend to make them interesting again.
Which is surprising, considering David Dobkin is directing this film. The same David Dobkin who brought us Wedding Crashers, The Change Up, and Fred Claus. Fred "only had one good scene between Paul Giamatti and Kevin Spacey" Claus. We've seen Dobkin bungle films with bigger stars, yet I can't help but feel optimistic about this one. The trailer looks pretty good, and knowing how Robert Downey Jr. loves to have creative input and ad-libs in his films, there is a good chance that he helped steer the ship home on The Judge. Also, the film is being released around the same time that Gravity made a killing and boosted its awards season profile last year, so there's a chance that we'll be seeing another star powered October hit for Warner Bros.
The Judge moves to strike theaters on October 10th.
