The Judge

First Hit:  A very good film and it could have been better.

Having Robert Downey Jr. (as Hank Palmer) and Robert Duvall (as his father Joseph) in the same film can only spell amazing possibilities.

Estranged son Hank is a defense attorney who seems to always get his man freed. He knows the law, how to pick a jury and how to exploit them both to keep his high-end, high ticket clients out of jail. Joseph is a 42 year sitting on the bench judge in the same small town where Hank was raised.

Hank was a difficult child and Joseph felt it important to be a tough, no-nonsense, father. What brings them together in this story is the death of Hank’s mom, Joseph’s wife. The difficulty between the two men is quickly set forth when he sees his father for the first time and Dad simply greets him with a handshake.

On the night after the funeral, Joseph is accused of killing a former criminal by hitting him with his car and leaving the scene of the accident. Of course Hank tries to be his dad’s defense lawyer and there is where the story of reconciliation takes place. Both of these actors have a depth that wasn’t fully mined in the script.

The stubbornness and rigidness that Duvall can bring and the quick witted intelligent banter that Downey is known for was only partially displayed. One the other side of the story the scene of father and son in the bathroom while Hank’s daughter Lauren (Emma Tremblay) knocked on the door to be let in was beautifully executed.

Downey was the perfect person for the part and with a stronger script, more could have been made of his history. Duvall was the perfect person for the part of father and judge. Tremblay was great as Downey’s daughter. Vera Farmiga was divine as Hanks old high school girlfriend Samantha. Billy Bob Thornton as the prosecuting attorney was wonderful. Nick Schenk and Bill Dubuque wrote this engaging but not deep enough script. David Dobkin directed this film and made good use of Duvall and Downey but there was more available to make this film great.

Overall:  I laughed, was touched, and found the story intriguing but it was not quite all it could be.

The Change-Up

First Hit: An old idea with varying results.

The idea of people inhabiting someone else’s body is old and there are at least a ½ dozen films around this premise. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless there is nothing new in it.

As with all the other films like this, while they are in the other person's body they learn something about themselves and the other person all before they go back into their own body. Nobody stays in the other person's body.

Therefore how much is there to tell about this film? Some of the jokes are out-loud funny. Some of the bathroom humor could (flying baby poop in the face) could be removed and not affect the overall film one iota. Nor did I find that Mitch Planko (played by Ryan Reynolds) to be very believable. I didn’t think he fit being a lorno (light porno) film star, nor did I think he was much of a ladies man if he spent weeks trolling Lamaze clinics looking for a sex partner.

I thought his gross and crass language while being around his best friend Dave Lockwood (played by Jason Bateman) and his wife Jamie (played by Leslie Mann) and their children to be more than required as a setup to how different the guys will be when they embody the other person.

For them to transfer brains/spirit, they pee into a fountain, the lights go out and then the next morning they become the other person. Funny it took them until the next morning to discover they were a different person, because when they reversed the spell it was almost immediately.

There are numerous funny bits that each get to perform being the other life which made the film watchable.

Reynolds was, for me, more OK as Dave than his original character Mitch. Bateman was also better as Dave than he was Mitch. And neither one of them felt very spot on as the other, only caricatures of the other person. The film makers made more of the physical scenes being reversed than hold true to the real characters being reversed. Mann was very good as Dave’s wife; however it was very unrealistic that she wouldn’t have caught on that her husband Dave wasn't really Dave but someone else. They were nowhere near the same people to her. Jon Lucas and Scott Moore wrote a occasionally funny script. David Dobkin didn’t do much to build some depth to the characters while relying on obvious, and at times, humorous scenes.

Overall: This film was good enough for the moment and immediately forgettable afterward.