The majority of the screen time is hogged by Downey Jr strutting around hurling his smartass lines, and the film is 150-minute long, an unacceptable amount for a plot this thin. There is also a lame attempt at shoehorning a romance between the central character and his old flame (played by Vera Farmiga) and things go downhill pretty soon.

Sitting there witnessing the film unfold over 2 hours and 20 minutes, it’s clear there is a crisper, better movie in there somewhere, but director David Dobkin (Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers) never stops piling on the clichés, ultimately reducing The Judge to a kind of hokey made-for-television movie. Watch it for Duvall and Downey who breathe life into a mediocre script.

With an uncomfortably high number of elements borrowed from an insane amount of places, The Judge is the refined, severely toned down version of basically every Yashraj/Karan Johar movie.

This is Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham for Americans.

Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall are the main highlights of the film. Despite the story being predictable, it’s a delight to watch two remarkable actors together on screen. Watch this emotional drama only if you are an ardent fan, and can be tolerant of excessive family drama.

The Judge is a great example of meticulously-crafted character portrayals and a film that carefully builds up each of the main characters over the course of its duration.