Robert Downey Jr. Starred in the 2014 Legal Drama ‘The Judge’ Along With Robert Duvall ( Photo Credit – IMDb )
Advertisement
Robert Downey Jr is one of the biggest motion picture stars and is beloved globally. Throughout his decades, he has starred in some of the most critically acclaimed movies, such as Chaplin, Tropic Thunder, Sherlock, and, most recently, Oppenheimer. Apart from his life-changing role as Iron Man, he has always tried to go one step further. But no one has ever doubted his star power, and surprisingly, one of his most underrated movies, The Judge, has made its OTT debut ten years after its release, and it has broken Netflix chart records! Here’s how the whole thing unraveled!
The top spot on the Netflix list of the most-watched movies in the United States goes to “The Judge,” a 10-year-old legal drama starring Robert Downey Jr. When the film was released in 2014, audiences initially overlooked but is now finding new life in one of the best streaming services since its release on May 1. Considered one of Downey’s best performances, it is getting a much-deserved revival on OTT, and critics are now reconsidering their reviews.
RDJ, the former Marvel Cinematic Universe star, is joined by a star-studded cast that includes Leighton Meester, Robert Duvall, Sarah Lancaster, and “Succession” actor Jeremy Strong. While they all give strong performances, Duvall received the film’s only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which Downey Jr. won nearly a decade later for his role in Oppenheimer.
While Downey Jr. has a long list of critically acclaimed dramas under his belt, “The Judge” was not as well received during its initial release. It currently has a 49% critic rating on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were much kinder, giving it a 73% score. The film is still getting word-of-mouth buzz online, with several X users calling it a “must watch” and lamenting that they missed Downey Jr. and Duvall’s heartbreaking performances the first time around. They are also crowning the movie as an underrated watch.
( Photo Credit – IMDb )
“The Judge,” directed by David Dobkin of “Wedding Crashers” and “Resident Alien” fame, stars Downey Jr. as Hank Palmer, a brilliant but shady attorney who returns to his Indiana hometown after his mother’s death.
He makes amends with his brothers Dale (Strong) and Glen (Vincent D’Onofrio) there, but he has a much more tense reunion with his estranged father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Duvall). Despite the resentful old man’s objections, Hank takes up his father’s defense after he is arrested in a hit-and-run death. Palmer is vocal about his disapproval of Hank’s morally dubious career.
The movie explores the complexity of a father-son relationship while questioning the morals of ambition and family dynamics. It is a seething drama that is now breathing a second life on Netflix.
