the judge movie review rotten tomatoes

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors.

Now streaming on:

Director David Dobkin gave us “ Wedding Crashers ” nearly a decade ago, and we who hooted heartily at the disreputable acts abetted by the rite of holy matrimony will be forever grateful. We might even pardon any lingering counts against his twin crimes against comedy, “ Fred Claus ” and “ The Change-Up .”

Now here comes “The Judge,” an unabashedly adult drama and a steadfastly old-fashioned one. Robert Downey Jr. is jaded big-city defense attorney Hank Palmer, a specialist in getting unsavory white-collar clients off the hook. As he puts it, “Innocent people can’t afford me.” He is pitted against Robert Duvall as Hank’s estranged dad, Joseph, an upstanding small-town magistrate who suddenly finds himself facing a possible murder rap and relunctantly ends up relying on his hotshot son as his attorney.

You can fairly smell the passion behind this project wafting off the screen. Dobkin, whose father was a lawyer, spent a number of years in pursuit of this opportunity to prove himself as adept at serious subjects as silly ones. Studio types would look at the script and say, “But it’s not funny.” His 1998 breakout film, " Clay Pigeons ," was a dark and nasty crime comedy, as black and violent as they come. But it was still a comedy.

Dobkin’s persistence has paid off in certain ways, mainly because it provides both its leads with an arena in which to occasionally show off their strengths. Downey gets to engage in his trademark hyper-verbal glibness but with a black sheep’s injured sadness in his eyes. Duvall is the embodiment of grizzled authority but undercut by the grimace-inducing infirmities of old age.

Yet, there also are some less welcome elements and a certain dragginess to contend with as Dobkin overloads his plot with too many bits of business on the way to a John Grisham-lite finale. Actually, make that bits of Bit-O-Honey candy, one of the many repeated visual allusions to a past that tore these two men apart. As is often the case when an artist finally is allowed to achieve his dream, the director adds unnecessary clutter – there is much ado about hydrangeas as well as an old Metallica T-shirt -- as if he fears he will never get a chance to do a drama again.

Before "The Judge"’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, Dobkin told the audience that he always wanted to do the kind of movie that doesn’t get made anymore. In other words, a human story. And themes found in the specific examples he cited as his inspirations -- “Kramer vs Kramer,” “ Terms of Endearment ” and “ The Verdict ” – are duly reflected in "The Judge."

Downey copes with his disintegrating marriage while attempting to get closer to his dumpling-cheeked daughter as a potential custody battle looms, just as in “ Kramer vs. Kramer .” After his legal shark returns to the small Midwest pond of his youth for his mother’s funeral, he and a perpetually disapproving Duvall bob and weave around each other like a pair of emotionally battered heavyweights—not unlike Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine in “Terms of Endearment.” And there are plenty of “Verdict”-style legal entanglements as Hank is forced to represent his father while shaking out the potentially unpleasant truth behind a car accident that is considered a possible vehicular homicide.

Meanwhile, a chorus line of family skeletons shake and rattle at regular intervals, some involving middle-child Hank’s brothers. And if anything is emblematic of the strengths and weaknesses of The Judge, it is these two siblings. As eldest son, Glen, Vincent D’Onofrio carries the burden of regret and responsibility on his beefy shoulders as a former baseball prodigy whose sports career hopes were dashed by an injury. As an unexpected MVP, D’Onofrio solemnly provides the perfect surefooted counterweight between the clash of the titans escalating between Downey and Duvall.

Then there is slow-witted youngest son Dale, played by Jeremy Strong . His innocent questions often provide obtuse humor even if his near-childlike state goes unexplained. But too often Dale ends up being more of a device than a fully fleshed-out character as he shows new and old home movies shot on an vintage Super 8MM camera as a way of filling in the back story that haunts the Palmer clan.

Vera Farmiga , whose local diner owner was cruelly dumped by Hank when they were in high school, seems almost part of a different movie. One by Frank Capra . She primarily exists to provide a sympathetic ear for Downey and some undercooked romantic relief. In fact, a whole parade of colorful performers passes by, including Billy Bob Thornton as a slim and steely silver fox of a prosecutor who battles Hank; Ken Howard as the no-nonsense walrus-like judge presiding over Papa Palmer’s case; and Dax Shepard as an unseasoned rube litigator.

Ultimately, it is the core father-son relationship that is put on trial, and you have to wait until the end before Dobkin unclenches his need to control and just allows Downey and Duvall to fearlessly go at it together at full force.

Still, for almost every choice that rankles – using a raging tornado as a metaphor for the storm inside the Palmer homestead is so obvious, it hurts – there usually is something else that offers compensation. Probably my favorite scene, one that shows Dobkin still has it funny-wise: When Hank, looking to cherry-pick less than salt-of-the-earth types as potential jury members, decides to ask the candidates to reveal the bumper-sticker sayings on their cars. A woman with the word “Tolerance” spelled out with religious symbols gets a thumbs down. The guy whose saying is, “Wife and Dog Missing. Reward for Dog”? He gets a thumbs up. Way up.

Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna spent much of her nearly thirty years at USA TODAY as a senior entertainment reporter. Now unchained from the grind of daily journalism, she is ready to view the world of movies with fresh eyes.

Now playing

The Truth vs. Alex Jones

Brian tallerico.

Disappear Completely

The Listener

Matt zoller seitz.

Late Night with the Devil

It's Only Life After All

Sheila o'malley, film credits.

The Judge (2014)

Rated R for language including some sexual references

141 minutes

Robert Downey Jr. as Henry "Hank" Palmer

Robert Duvall as Judge Joseph "Joe" Palmer

Vera Farmiga as Samantha

Vincent D'Onofrio as Glen Palmer

Jeremy Strong as Dale Palmer

Billy Bob Thornton as Dwight Dickham

David Krumholtz as Mike Kattan

Emma Tremblay as Lauren Palmer

Dax Shepard as C.P. Kennedy

Ken Howard as Judge Warren

Leighton Meester as Carla

Balthazar Getty as Deputy Hanson

Grace Zabriskie as Mrs. Blackwell

David Dobkin
Bill Dubuque
Nick Schenk

Original Music Composer

Thomas Newman

Cinematography

Janusz Kaminski

Latest blog posts

The Movies That Underwent Major Changes After Their Festival Premiere

Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives Is A Spinoff Stuck In Limbo

Preview of Tributes at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Pioneering Actor-Producer Terry Carter Dies

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Netflix streaming
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

Challengers Link to Challengers
Abigail Link to Abigail
Arcadian Link to Arcadian

New TV Tonight

Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
The Jinx: Season 2
The Big Door Prize: Season 2
Knuckles: Season 1
Them: Season 2
Velma: Season 2
Secrets of the Octopus: Season 1
Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story: Season 1
We're Here: Season 4

The Judge Reviews

A bracing study of a fearless pioneer whose quest for justice reverberates far beyond Palestine.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 3, 2019

While it reminds us that social progress requires sustained effort and perseverance, it also highlights how far the Middle East has changed while giving us a tenacious protagonist.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 23, 2019

Equally frustrating and inspiring, The Judge is an accomplished tale of bravery and justice

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 8, 2019

...offers insight into Palestinian society and politics as well as providing a compelling portrait of the remarkable woman who is its primary subject.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 26, 2018

The Judge is a thoughtful, sympathetic study.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 22, 2018

Kohn makes good directorial choices ... intercutting interviews, so that they seem more like a dialogue, following Al-Faqih as she walks about to avoid the 'talking head' feel and inserting aerial footage to bolster the sense of movement.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 22, 2018

The Judge is a fascinating insight into a rarely glimpsed world.

Full Review | Nov 19, 2018

It's an exceptional, multi-dimensional look at the culture from the inside.

The Judge is the rare documentary that locks you in from the start and never let's go.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 4, 2018

The film itself isn't up to the actors' performances. It is a standard issue family soap, wonderfully enhanced by their work, but no timeless classic.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2018

Al-Faqih is a role model, and Cohn makes a strong case for her.

Full Review | Original Score: B | May 18, 2018

Couched in beautiful cinematography that highlights the exotic architecture of Palestine, the documentary follows al-Faqih's story through her early legal background to showcase her unique and groundbreaking position.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 12, 2018

The Judge is complex and engaging.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 10, 2018

A portrait as delightful as its subject: Kholoud Al-Faqih, a pioneer of Islamic jurisprudence and as fiery as any Western feminist. Essential viewing for its smashing of stereotypes.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 3, 2018

Although Faqih speaks eloquently about women's rights and what she stands for, a bit more personal introspection might have been illuminating.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 2, 2018

Despite her dubious circumstances, Al-Faqih is a strong documentary subject who is likely to be a major historical figure for womens' rights in the Muslim world.

Full Review | Apr 30, 2018

"The Judge" lays out facts while avoiding making easy judgments about how Palestinian men view and treat women.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 26, 2018

People who need a fair-minded adjudicator like Kholoud Al-Faqih and are fortunate to have her.

Full Review | Apr 23, 2018

Erika Cohn's documentary could have delved deeper at key points, but in its engaging fashion it strikes one inspirational note after another...

Full Review | Apr 15, 2018

A valuable insight into Palestinian society and a great antidote to Islamophobic hysteria over sharia law.

Full Review | Apr 13, 2018

‘The Judge’ Reviews: What’s the Verdict on Robert Downey Jr.’s Legal Drama?

The judge and his defense attorney deliver, but the jury is hung on how good the rest of movie is

Critics have ruled that “The Judge” is guilty of embracing clichés, but doesn’t deserve any jail time since stars Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall deliver commendable performances.

The Warner Bros. release hitting theaters this weekend has garnered a 49 percent approval rating from critics counted on Rotten Tomatoes . With 49 reviews being labeled “rotten” out of the 95 aggregated, critics are almost split right down the middle as to whether or not director David Dobkin ‘s nearly two-and-a-half-hour legal drama is worth a trip to the theaters.

Also read: Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘The Judge,’ ‘Dracula Untold’ and ‘Alexander’ Take on ‘Gone Girl’ at Box Office

According to TheWrap ‘s Inkoo Kang, that decision depends on how much potential ticket buyers love Downey’s trademark wit and snappy delivery.

“‘The Judge’ is tailor-made for Downey’s gift for delivering a quippy, arrogant put-down like he’s doing his target a favor. Hank’s anti-heroism is a refreshing splash of lemon juice with an occasional spritz of sour vinegar,” Kang wrote in her review . “But much of director David Dobkin’s cynically cloying legal and family drama goes down like a lump of aspartame.”

See video: Robert Downey Jr. Hints That Someone Else May Wear the Armor for Fourth ‘Iron Man’ Movie

Downey stars as a hot-shot lawyer in Chicago who returns to his hometown in Indiana to defend his estranged father — a judge, played by Duvall — who is charged for the death of an ex-convict he has had a particularly rough relationship with. Vera Farmiga plays one of Downey’s former flames, while Billy Bob Thornton joins the party as a prosecutor and Vincent D’Onofrio plays another son of the eponymous lawman.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan had the same issues with the story, but emphasized that the performances by the major players on screen are worth the price of admission.

“ Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. are not only the boldface names attached to ‘The Judge,’ but their powerful symbiotic acting is the key reason to see this film,” Turan wrote. “However, as directed by David Dobkin from a script by Nick Schenk and Bill Dubuque, this vivid and volatile core is often undercut by a weakness for middle-of-the-road sentiment and a desire to be all things to all people.”

Also read: Robert Downey Jr.’s Son Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges

Arizona Republic critic Bill Goodykoontz went as far as to say that the film would “likely get laughed out of theaters” if it were not for Downey and Duvall’s powerhouse performances.

The film is saddled with a cliche-riddled script, written by Nick Schenk and Bill Dubuque, from a story by Dobkin and Schenk. Any references you can think of in an estranged father-son drama are present here, and they aren’t presented with any particular spark of imagination,” Goodykoontz wrote. “Luckily for Dobkin, Downey and Duvall are able to provide some.”

Also read: ‘Annabelle’ Reviews: Is This Creepy Doll Worth Skipping ‘Gone Girl’ For?

Detroit News critic Tom Long wasn’t as charmed by Downey’s performance, most likely because he was too distracted by story elements and characters he argues did not need to be there.

“‘The Judge’ is an over-stuffed film, the sort of movie that crams too much into too slight a story,” Long wrote. “There’s the legal thriller component, but the thrills keep getting watered down with further distractions. Let’s just say any film that has a high school romance rekindled, hints of incest, cancer, professional baseball, mental disability and repeated vomiting has too much going on, especially when some things have no tie to the basic story.”

See video: Robert Downey Jr. Confirms ‘Iron Man 4’ in the Works

USA Today critic Claudia Puig could not deny the chemistry between the stars, but she too couldn’t excuse the rest of the unsatisfactory elements in what she described as a “second-rate courtroom drama.”

“Mired in red herrings and time-wasting sidebars, ‘The Judge’ is a classic example of a second-rate courtroom drama,” Puig wrote. “It’s well-acted, with some occasional moments of clever dialogue, but the story is plodding, predictable and tension-free. If the essential premise doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter what terrific actors are cast.”

Screen Rant

'the judge' review.

The Judge is a very familiar tale of a man that finds humility in a return to his hometown - albeit one with a few genuinely powerful moments of drama.

The Judge follows callous defense attorney Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) - who left small town Indiana life (including his family and high school girlfriend) in his late teens and never looked back. Now a ruthless big-city lawyer, Hank has built a prosperous career defending guilty but very rich parties in both civil and criminal court - with no remorse for his clients' victims. Still, in spite of his wealth and success, long hours and a pitiless approach to humanity have taken a toll on his happiness: Hank is estranged from his tough-as-nails father, Joseph (Robert Duvall), a venerated local judge, and now his wife is leaving, threatening to take full custody of their daughter, Lauren (Emma Tremblay).

When Hank's mother dies unexpectedly, he returns to home to Carlinville for the funeral, expecting to be on the earliest flight out of town - only to get pulled into the most personal case of his career. The blood of a convicted killer has been found on the family car and Hank must decide whether he can put aside long-dwelling animosity to defend his aging and obstinate father in court.

Directed by David Dobkin ( The Change-Up ), The Judge is a very familiar tale of a man that finds humility in a return to his hometown - albeit one with a few genuinely powerful moments of drama. On its own, The Judge is a solid character story with quality performances but many viewers will likely be able to anticipate where the film is headed - based on a format established in countless earlier movies. Similarly, Dobkin's film isn't a particularly sturdy platform for Downey to break out of his snarky but charming comfort zone. The fan-favorite actor gets to explore a greater range than his blockbuster franchise roles allow but fans who were hoping for an award bait turn will likely be underwhelmed by Downey's efforts in differentiating Hank.

As indicated, the story is full of stock plot beats, guiding the way toward a predictable endpoint; yet, Dobkin (as well as screenwriters Nick Schenk and Bill Dubuque) injects enough unique pieces of uncompromising drama to keep the mix fresh. Unfortunately, the mystery at the center of the film, along with the subsequent court scenes, are significantly less interesting than the primary story of an alienated father and son attempting to repair their fractured relationship. Dobkin simply tries to pack too much into The Judge (a character-court-comedy-drama), and even with a 141 minute runtime, several key plot arcs are rushed or lean heavily on cliche movie tropes - especially those pertaining to Hank's feelings about life in rural Carlinville.

Unsurprisingly, the on-screen pairing of Duvall and Downey is the main draw - and the veteran actors deliver. Downey's performance is far from award-worthy but provides the A-lister a chance to showcase a subtlety that would be a mismatch in self-involved do-gooders like Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes. At times the actor's comic book movie bravado bleeds through Hank but similarities rarely distract in moment-to-moment drama. The Judge won't get Downey the kind of recognition he saw with Chaplin but it's still a passionate performance - one that helps shine a spotlight on a deserving co-star in Duvall.

No doubt, Downey is the primary box office draw but Duvall steals nearly every one of their shared scenes. Whereas Hank is stuck in a relatively standard arc of self-discovery, Joe is slightly more nuanced - a principled man with a clear-cut code of right and wrong. Duvall finds subtle ways to chip away at the stoic exterior - revealing the vulnerable (and downright fractured) human being underneath. As a result, viewers who are expecting a straightforward court drama will likely be surprised by the true focus of The Judge - and its uncompromising depiction of Joe.

The supporting cast is strong, with a handful of familiar faces in key roles, but most arcs are left underdeveloped. Vincent D'Onofrio and Jeremy Strong portray Hank's brothers, Glen and Dale, with Billy Bob Thornton and Vera Farmiga in the roles of the prosecuting attorney, Dwight Dickham, and Hank's high school sweetheart, Samantha Powell, respectively; yet, sadly, very little time is spent exploring any of the characters beyond shallow outlines - outlines that exist only to teach us about Hank (and his past).

Moviegoers looking for a fresh story or memorable performance from Downey will likely find The Judge to be a pretty standard character drama that follows very familiar story beats. That said, Dobkin includes enough unique details to differentiate his film from similar family (and courtroom) dramas - resulting in a thoughtful but not particularly innovative experience. In the end, The Judge is a competent film, and a great platform for Duvall to shine, but falls short in being very memorable (or worthy of a trip to the theater).

_____________________________________________________________

The Judge runs 141 minutes and is Rated R for language including some sexual references. Now playing in theaters.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comment section below.

Agree or disagree with the review? Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick to let me know what you thought of The Judge .

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

For Parents
For Educators
Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

Get the app
Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

Explaining the News to Our Kids

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Common sense media reviewers.

Mature legal drama is superbly acted but a bit predictable.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Forgiveness and redemption arrive when you least e

Of the three Palmer brothers, Dale is the sweetest

The story centers on a murder trial; a man is foun

A guy makes out with a much younger girl at a bar,

Frequent swearing, including "f--k," &qu

Some labels/products seen or mentioned, including

A fair bit of drinking. Adult brothers get buzzed

Positive Messages

Forgiveness and redemption arrive when you least expect them -- you just have to be open to them.

Positive Role Models

Of the three Palmer brothers, Dale is the sweetest and the one who truly acts without agenda. Hank is angry at his father but finds a way to tap into a well of empathy he didn't know existed.

Violence & Scariness

The story centers on a murder trial; a man is found dead by the side of the road, presumably hit by a car. A man backs an SUV into a garage, denting it. Lots of screaming fights, including a really mean one between a couple about to divorce. A fist fight nearly erupts at a bar after a group of men makes fun of a mentally disabled man. A criminal says something venomous to an officer of the court.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A guy makes out with a much younger girl at a bar, kissing her and groping her backside (they might be related). In another scene, old lovers make out and kiss passionately. A woman talks about pleasuring herself. Additional sexual references.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent swearing, including "f--k," "hell," "piss," "ass," "a--hole," "s--t," "d--k," "bullsh-t," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Some labels/products seen or mentioned, including Ford, Facebook, Kool-Aid, Cadillac, and GoreTex.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A fair bit of drinking. Adult brothers get buzzed at a bar. Additional social drinking. An alcoholic takes a swig of hard liquor after a long dry spell.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Judge -- which stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall -- is an engrossing drama/legal thriller that covers some fairly mature, emotionally taxing terrain, including family estrangement, murder, power struggles, divorce, the death of a parent, and the emotions of the mourning process. But it also has themes of forgiveness and redemption. Characters swear frequently (including "a--hole," "s--t," and "f--k") and drink a fair bit, sometimes going overboard. Parents argue in front of and with their grown children, and a plot line about a murder includes shots of a mangled car and discussions of how a crime might have taken place. There's also some kissing/groping and a scene in which a woman talks about pleasuring herself. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

Parents say (6)
Kids say (6)

Based on 6 parent reviews

Duvall and Downey, Jr...who can out act the other? It is rather fun to watch.

Reality is not always pleasant, what's the story.

Hank Palmer ( Robert Downey Jr. ) -- a highly successful but sometimes entirely too slick defense attorney -- would never dream of going back to his hometown of Carlinville, Indiana. But filial duty calls after his beloved mother passes away, calling for a face-to-face between Hank and his older brother, Glenn ( Vincent D'Onofrio ), a gifted athlete who wound up never leaving home; his developmentally disabled younger brother, Dale (Jeremy Strong), who's forever carrying around a Super 8 camera and recording every family moment, including the saddest ones; and their father, Joseph ( Robert Duvall ), the town judge, who seems to have a soft spot for everyone but Hank. Then, when a recently paroled criminal whom Joseph sent to jail is found dead by the side of the road, the magistrate winds up the main suspect, leaving Hank with no choice but to be his fearsome father's counsel and ultimately deal with his family's divisions.

Is It Any Good?

There's no doubt that Downey Jr. can deliver on pretty much any role he takes on. In THE JUDGE, he imbues Hank with a certain cynicism that only he could get away with without making the main character entirely unlikable. And likability is important here, because Hank wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. He's arrogant, cocksure, and difficult in his own right.

The fact that the film's characters are complicated actually heightens its appeal. But Downey -- and, by extension, the film, since his character is so central to it -- might feel just a little too slick. There's a knowing sheen here that points to a self consciousness about the movie being a type of crowd-pleasing thriller, one that milks all the right emotional notes. But there's no false note in Duvall's performance. He allows the titular judge to be difficult to like, at best. There's one particular scene in which his character is subjected to the indignities of age and illness, and Duvall goes to all the necessary dark corners. To watch him and Downey, who's best when he's paired with Duvall, is to witness a master acting class.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Judge 's messages. What is it saying about family bonds? Who do you think the film is intended to appeal to? How can you tell?

What is the movie saying about forgiveness, especially when it comes to family?

Talk about the idea of family and estrangement and how the judge deals with it differently or similarly to other movies in the same genre. How would you characterize the Palmers? Are they close to each other? Are they bonded?

Movie Details

In theaters : October 10, 2014
On DVD or streaming : January 27, 2015
Cast : Robert Downey Jr. , Robert Duvall , Vera Farmiga
Director : David Dobkin
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Drama
Topics : Brothers and Sisters
Run time : 141 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : language including some sexual references
Last updated : May 25, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

August: Osage County

A Few Good Men

Drama movies that tug at the heartstrings, courtroom dramas, related topics.

Brothers and Sisters

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

THE JUDGE Review

Read Matt's The Judge review; David Dobkin's film stars Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Billy Bob Thornton.

David Dobkin previously directed broad comedies such as Wedding Crashers and The Change-Up , and now he's moved to broad drama with his latest feature, The Judge , a movie that clumsily grasps at every heartstring you have. It's a soft-focus weepy that rarely elicits any emotion. Instead, the film feels made to showcase Robert Downey Jr 's acting ability by proving he can do more than play variations of Tony Stark. While the movie succeeds in showing the actor’s range, it still feels indulgent as it piles on plotlines instead of keeping the focus on the chemistry between Downey and co-star Robert Duvall .

Hank Palmer (Downey) is a cocky attorney who has little respect for the law as he helps wealthy clients evade justice. When he learns that his mother has died, he reluctantly returns home to his small, Midwestern town, which he tried so hard to escape because he despises his father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Duvall). When Joseph is accused of murdering an ex-convict, Hank decides to defend his father even though he's constantly being pushed away. While in town, Hank also tries to mend fences with his brothers Glen ( Vincent D'Onofrio ) and Dale ( Jeremy Strong ) as well high-school girlfriend Samantha ( Vera Farmiga ).

The world revolves around Hank as everyone needs to pitch in and make him a better person. It's not enough to repair the bond with his estranged father. He also needs to make amends for how he ignored the rest of his family, ran out on Sam, ruined his marriage, and neglected his daughter, Lauren ( Emma Tremblay ). Also, the prosecutor ( Billy Bob Thornton ) has a grudge against Hank. Oh, and Joseph might be having trouble with his mental faculties. And just for good measure, there's also the possibility Hank fathered an illegitimate child with Sam. The movie seems to be laboring under the notion that if the plot piles on more stuff, it will be emotionally heavier rather than tedious.

Instead of telling a compelling drama, The Judge ends up turning into the The Robert Downey Jr. Dramatic Showcase , and on the one hand, I like seeing this Downey. Even when he's not playing Tony Stark, he's still playing Tony Stark—the quick-witted, arrogant guy who's not all bad—and that's still in this movie. Those who have seen Downey in his smaller films know that he can do more, and it's nice to see him show off some range in a wide-release picture like The Judge . There's just no reason we need to give him 141 minutes to do it. You could cut the Sam subplot out of the movie, and nothing would be lost.

The heart of the story is Hank and Joseph. Give Downey and Duvall the space to play off each other, and you’ll get great drama from it. But Dobkin constantly shows a lack of confidence as feels the need to be overbearing almost all the time. When Downey and Duvall are having a screaming match, they have to do it in the middle of the tornado because IT'S A WHIRLWIND OF EMOTION . If they're in the courtroom, it all has to be in the prettiest light possible because the law IS THE NOBLEST THING EVER . And if that's not enough, Dale carries around an 8mm camera solely for the purpose of showing us old home videos because REMEMBER THE GOOD TIMES .

And one of the best scenes in the movie is completely removed from this overblown drama. It's a small, intimate moment that will be recognizable to anyone who has ever had to take care of a sick parent. Dobkin pulls back, and lets the scene play out with respect and even a little bit of good-natured humor. It's a sweet moment that doesn't feel saccharine like the majority of the picture.

Sadly, The Judge mostly prefers to make its small, family drama as grandiose as possible because that's the only thing that can heal someone as "damaged" as Hank even though he's not really that extraordinary. He's getting divorced, he needs to spend more time with his kid, and get along better with his dad and brothers. Hank Palmer isn't special even though The Judge works so damn hard to convince us that this is the most important story ever told because Robert Downey Jr. is in a drama with Robert Duvall.

Review by Brian Eggert October 11, 2014

Director David Dobkin achieves his passion project with The Judge , an earnest courtroom feel-gooder saddled by predictable plotting and clichéd dramatic turns. After years of comedies, some hits ( The Wedding Crashers ), some misses ( Fred Claus ), Dobkin and co-scripter Nick Schenk came up with an antiquated story that was ultimately penned by Schenk and Bill Dubuque. Entering John Grisham territory with notes of Frank Capra, the overindulged, overlong result has been quarried from dozens of other sources and its degree of familiarity proves trying. Dobkin’s father was an attorney, and so he instills a sense of personal sentimentality and dignity around the profession, which lends the film an old-fashioned idealism. Fortunately, Dobkin acquired a terrific cast to breathe life into his characters, making The Judge a generic crowd-pleaser.

Robert Downey Jr. plays big-city defense attorney Hank Palmer, whose trip to his small-town home of Carlinville, Indiana, for his mother’s funeral is beyond a headache for him. There, amid the downhome charm, he finds painful reminders of his youth, including his estranged father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), whom he resents and hasn’t spoken to in years. His elder brother Glen (Vincent D’Onofrio) could have been a professional baseball player had Hank not wrapped a car around a tree in their teenage years. And Hank’s younger, dim-witted brother Dale (Jeremy Strong) remains childlike, carrying an old Super 8 camera around with him at all times. Meanwhile, Hank’s marriage is in shambles and headed for divorce, and he’s determined to get custody of his daughter. Auspiciously, down at the local diner, Hank’s ex-flame Sam (Vera Farmiga) wants to rekindle their youthful, true-love romance.

After the funeral, Hank preps to return home, but his father’s sudden arrest for murder forces him to stay. A recently released criminal sentenced by Judge Palmer has been run down on a rainy night, and the victim’s DNA has been found on the Judge’s car. Though his father hired a hayseed local (Dax Shepard) for his defense, Hank insists on representing his father, and along the way, their father-son relationship heals. Though, the Judge continues to be a stubborn old meanie and Hank a smug hotshot. In the courtroom, Hank is pitted against a ball-busting judge (Ken Howard) and a slick-as-snot prosecutor (Billy Bob Thornton). And in the end, there’s an artificial climax on the witness stand, where the usual lines of courtroom questioning break down, and the prosecutor apparently takes a nap, all so Hank and his father can work out their issues in a teary testimony that achieves an understanding between the two.

Without Downey, Jr. and Duvall putting their talents into the two central performances, The Judge might be completely despicable for its overt schmaltziness and over-stuffed screenplay. Dobkin introduces several subplots, any number of which feel superfluous, including a bit about Hank’s possible illegitimate child with Sam; later, there’s a tornado that threatens Carlinville at the height of a family row and stands as an overwrought visual metaphor for the scene. Elsewhere, the Dale character feels like a manipulative device engineered for an easy laugh or weepy cry. The only moments that contain an air of authenticity are those about the Judge’s battle with cancer; Duvall commits to the ugly side effects of chemotherapy in a bathroom sequence that manages to be both heartbreaking and funny. In an uncharacteristically messy lensing job, Steven Spielberg’s longtime collaborator Janusz Kaminski renders some scenes in an all-American sheen and others in a grainy filter, as though they were shot by Dale. Flashback sequences look believably vintage in their Super 8mm quality.

Steeped in human drama, The Judge takes obvious influence from Kramer vs. Kramer and Terms of Endearment , but without an ounce of originality or innovation applied to it. More recent examples of such fare include August: Osage County and This Is Where I Leave You , where reluctant family members return home for a funeral and, through noisy arguments and much dramatic grandstanding, realize why family is so important. The familiarity of the story hurts what is Dobkin’s otherwise pleasantly sincere and straightforward direction, and a number of fine performances. Downey, Jr’s usual verbal gymnastics routine gives way to some emotional revelations, while Duvall portrays a multi-layered character capable of extreme obstinacy and unexpected tenderness. Their performances, along with solid supporting work from Farmiga and Thornton, might be the only reason to once again endure a story you’ve seen countless times before.

Related Titles

The Definitives

In Theaters

Recent Reviews

The Beast 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Challengers 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Infested 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Boy Kills World 1.5 Stars ☆ ☆
Patreon Exclusive: Tuesday 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver 0.5 Star ☆
Patreon Exclusive: Sasquatch Sunset 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Abigail 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Civil War 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Patreon Exclusive: Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
LaRoy, Texas 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Blackout 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Monkey Man 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Short Take: Baghead 2 Stars ☆ ☆

The Judge review: jury in, gavel out on Robert Downey Jr courtroom drama

Downey Jr defends estranged dad Robert Duvall in a strange tonal pick-n-mix that has opened the Toronto film festival

Real life bites at Tiff 2014

T he director David Dobkin has made two jolly comedies with Owen Wilson – Shanghai Knights and The Wedding Crashers – and one film in which Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds accidentally swap bodies after weeing into the same magic fountain.

He has not, before now, made a drama. Actually, in some sense, he still hasn’t. The Judge fancies itself a grand courtroom thriller, the tale of revenge and betrayal, class tension and chronic illness, civic integrity versus personal pride. But it’s a total tonal gumbo, which sometimes treats its topics with kid gloves, at others chucks them in the air and juggles. It’s a film to absolutely scramble your taste radar. Watching it is like snacking in someone else’s fridge with your eyes shut.

Robert Downey Jr plays Hank, a hotshot big-city lawyer with flexible morals and no interest in pro bono. A couple of early scenes show him making mincemeat in the courtroom, smacking down peers, practically cackling – an alpha male easily as ruthless and ambitious as mid-period Paul Robinson .

But such posturing masks private pain: Hank’s wife is divorcing him, his moppet daughter misses him and he has no contact with his dad (Robert Duvall), a judge in smalltown Indiana. Yet it is to pop’s frosty embrace that he must return after his mum dies abruptly. And there he must stay after Duvall’s character is accused of a hit-and-run the night of her funeral. Can Hank bring himself to defend the old man, given their mysterious history?

Robert Downey Jr and Duvall in The Judge

The Judge is a timeless film, in that it could have been made at almost any point over the past 80 years: rote plot, functional support, well-signalled twists. It’s a two-seater star vehicle offering little legroom for other passengers. The leads go full-throttle. Duvall is as gummily charismatic as ever, Downey good casting – nothing if not a convincing tool, his self-conscious smirk a neat fit for the part. Yet his vanity trips him up. When Hank puts on his old Metallica T-shirt and freewheels nostalgically downhill on his racer, we’re meant to be amused – get off the bike, granddad! But these are body-appropriate togs; the joke won’t work if you’ve just allowed your leading man to show off his washboard torso.

The rest of the cast aren’t so indulged. Jeremy Strong plays a cookie-cutter savant brother with a handy hobby (splicing together old Super 8s); Vera Farmiga is shot through seven layers of Vaseline as Hank’s old flame. The first entrance of Billy Bob Thornton as Dwight Dickham, the prosecution, gets hope springing. But the script sells him short. Dickham’s only real hint of devilishness is immaculate facial hair and ownership of a super-snazzy folding silver water beaker, the kind of thing David Blaine might take on a camping trip.

After two hours of switchblade swerves between sweet and sour, larks and drama, you start feeling queasy. The bonding over diarrhoea. The earnest gasps from the public gallery. The lol-tastic incest. The hard-boiled nuggets (“Everyone wants Atticus Finch till there’s a dead hooker and a hot tub”) floating about on a sea of treacle. Dobkin is one moment too on-the-money, the next jabbing away, miles off.

What should be his defence? Diminished capacity? That’s too harsh, for there are mitigating factors. Sadly there’s no denying the charge: first-degree cheese, with intent.

First look review
Robert Downey Jr
Drama films
Comedy films
Toronto film festival
Toronto film festival 2014

More on this story

Cake review – an anti-vanity vehicle for Jennifer Aniston

Denzel Washington replaces Tom Cruise in The Magnificent Seven

Michael Moore tells documentary-makers to be more entertaining

Rosewater review – Jon Stewart's Iran-interrogation drama creaks at the edges

The Equalizer review – Denzel Washington: ordinary guy, cool killer

Wild review – a two-hour hallucinatory montage

The Riot Club: an exclusive clip from the film adapted from the hit play Posh – video

The Imitation Game review: Knightley and Cumberbatch impress, but historical spoilers lower the tension

Comments (…), most viewed.

Skip to main content
Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Consider This from NPR

LISTEN & FOLLOW
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

Rotten Tomatoes Changed The Role Of Film Critics. But Is That A Good Thing?

Marquee announcing the opening of "Barbie" movie is pictured in Los Angeles California, on July 20, 2023. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images) VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Marquee announcing the opening of "Barbie" movie is pictured in Los Angeles California, on July 20, 2023. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

If you're of a certain age, and you love movies, when you think "movie critic", you probably picture Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and their popular TV shows. Their iconic "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" made it clear what each of them thought about a film. In some ways, the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes is the opposite of Siskel and Ebert. Their viewers depended on the insights of two individuals that they trusted, and felt they knew. Rotten Tomatoes aggregates and averages reviews from lots of critics to assign a movie a number ranking, and declare it "fresh" or "rotten". Since its launch 25 years ago, it's become the the go to site for lots of potential movie goers, offering everything they need to decide whether or not a movie is worth seeing. But for a while now, there have been complaints about the way the site ranks films. And concerns that those rankings unfairly influence whether a movie succeeds or bombs. Host Scott Detrow talks to Lane Brown, who took the site to task in a recent article on Vulture, and film critic Jamie Broadnax, editor-in-chief of the culture site, Black Girl Nerds.

Newsletters

Site search

Israel-Hamas war
Home Planet
2024 election
Supreme Court
TikTok’s fate
All explainers
Future Perfect

Filed under:

Rotten Tomatoes, explained

Does a movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score affect its box office returns? And six other questions, answered.

Share this story

Share this on Facebook
Share this on Twitter
Share this on Reddit
Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Rotten Tomatoes, explained

In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes — the site that aggregates movie and TV critics’ opinions and tabulates a score that’s “fresh” or “rotten” — took on an elevated level of importance. That’s when Rotten Tomatoes (along with its parent company Flixster) was acquired by Fandango , the website that sells advance movie tickets for many major cinema chains.

People had been using Rotten Tomatoes to find movie reviews since it launched in 2000, but after Fandango acquired the site, it began posting “Tomatometer” scores next to movie ticket listings. Since then, studio execs have started to feel as if Rotten Tomatoes matters more than it used to — and in some cases, they’ve rejiggered their marketing strategies accordingly.

It’s easy to see why anyone might assume that Rotten Tomatoes scores became more tightly linked to ticket sales, with potential audiences more likely to buy tickets for a movie with a higher score, and by extension, giving critics more power over the purchase of a ticket.

But that’s not the whole story. And as most movie critics (including myself) will tell you, the correlation between Rotten Tomatoes scores, critical opinion, marketing tactics, and actual box office returns is complicated. It’s not a simple cause-and-effect situation.

My own work is included in both Rotten Tomatoes’ score and that of its more exclusive cousin, Metacritic . So I, along with many other critics , think often of the upsides and pitfalls of aggregating critical opinion and its effect on which movies people see. But for the casual moviegoer, how review aggregators work, what they measure, and how they affect ticket sales can be mysterious.

So when I got curious about how people perceive Rotten Tomatoes and its effect on ticket sales, I did what any self-respecting film critic does: I informally polled my Twitter followers to see what they wanted to know.

Here are seven questions that many people have about Rotten Tomatoes, and review aggregation more generally — and some facts to clear up the confusion.

How is a Rotten Tomatoes score calculated?

The score that Rotten Tomatoes assigns to a film corresponds to the percentage of critics who’ve judged the film to be “fresh,” meaning their opinion of it is more positive than negative. The idea is to quickly offer moviegoers a sense of critical consensus.

“Our goal is to serve fans by giving them useful tools and one-stop access to critic reviews, user ratings, and entertainment news to help with their entertainment viewing decisions,” Jeff Voris, a vice president at Rotten Tomatoes, told me in an email.

The opinions of about 3,000 critics — a.k.a. the “Approved Tomatometer Critics” who have met a series of criteria set by Rotten Tomatoes — are included in the site’s scores, though not every critic reviews every film, so any given score is more typically derived from a few hundred critics, or even less. The scores don’t include just anyone who calls themselves a critic or has a movie blog; Rotten Tomatoes only aggregates critics who have been regularly publishing movie reviews with a reasonably widely read outlet for at least two years, and those critics must be “active,” meaning they've published at least one review in the last year. The site also deems a subset of critics to be “top critics” and calculates a separate score that only includes them.

Some critics (or staffers at their publications) upload their own reviews, choose their own pull quotes, and designate their review as “fresh” or “rotten.” Other critics (including myself) have their reviews uploaded, pull-quoted, and tagged as fresh or rotten by the Rotten Tomatoes staff. In the second case, if the staff isn't sure whether to tag a review as fresh or rotten, they reach out to the critic for clarification. And critics who don't agree with the site’s designation can request that it be changed.

As the reviews of a given film accumulate, the Rotten Tomatoes score measures the percentage that are more positive than negative, and assigns an overall fresh or rotten rating to the movie. Scores of over 60 percent are considered fresh, and scores of 59 percent and under are rotten. To earn the coveted “designated fresh” seal, a film needs at least 40 reviews, 75 percent of which are fresh, and five of which are from “top” critics.

What does a Rotten Tomatoes score really mean ?

A Rotten Tomatoes score represents the percentage of critics who felt mildly to wildly positively about a given film.

If I give a film a mixed review that’s generally positive (which, in Vox’s rating system, could range from a positive-skewing 3 to the rare totally enamored 5), that review receives the same weight as an all-out rave from another critic. (When I give a movie a 2.5, I consider that to be a neutral score; by Rotten Tomatoes' reckoning, it's rotten.) Theoretically, a 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating could be made up entirely of middling-to-positive reviews. And if half of the critics the site aggregates only sort of like a movie, and the other half sort of dislike it, the film will hover around 50 percent (which is considered “rotten” by the site).

Contrary to some people’s perceptions, Rotten Tomatoes itself maintains no opinion about a film. What Rotten Tomatoes tries to gauge is critical consensus.

Critics’ opinions do tend to cluster on most films. But there are always outliers, whether from contrarians (who sometimes seem to figure out what people will say and then take the opposite opinion), or from those who seem to love every film. And critics, like everyone, have various life experiences, aesthetic preferences, and points of view that lead them to have differing opinions on movies.

So in many (if not most) cases, a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score may not correspond to any one critic’s view. It’s more like an imprecise estimate of what would happen if you mashed together every Tomatometer critic and had the resulting super-critic flash a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

Rotten Tomatoes also lets audiences rate movies, and the score is often out of step with the critical score. Sometimes, the difference is extremely significant, a fact that's noticeable because the site lists the two scores side by side.

There’s a straightforward reason the two rarely match, though: The critical score is more controlled and methodical.

Why? Most professional critics have to see and review many films, whether or not they’re inclined to like the movie. (Also, most critics don’t pay to see films, because studios hold special early screenings for them ahead of the release date, which removes the decision of whether they’re interested enough in a film to spend their hard-earned money on seeing it.)

But with Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score, the situation is different. Anyone on the internet can contribute — not just those who actually saw the film. As a result, a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score can be gamed by internet trolls seeking to sink it simply because they find its concept offensive. A concerted effort can drive down the film’s audience score before it even comes out, as was the case with the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters .

Even if Rotten Tomatoes required people to pass a quiz on the movie before they rated it, the score would still be somewhat unreliable. Why? Because ordinary audiences are more inclined to buy tickets to movies they’re predisposed to like — who wants to spend $12 to $20 on a film they’re pretty sure they’ll hate?

So audience scores at Rotten Tomatoes (and other audience-driven scores, like the ones at IMDb) naturally skew very positive, or sometimes very negative if there’s any sort of smear campaign in play. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But audience scores tend to not account for those who would never buy a ticket to the movie in the first place.

In contrast, since critics see lots of movies — some of which they would have gone to see anyhow, and some of which they would’ve never chosen to see if their editors didn’t make the assignment — their opinion distribution should theoretically be more even, and thus the critical Rotten Tomatoes score more “accurate.”

A screenshot of the Rotten Tomatoes page for Wonder Woman

Or at least that’s what Rotten Tomatoes thinks. The site displays a movie’s critics’ scores — the official Tomatometer — at Fandango and in a more prominent spot on the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes landing page. The audience score is also displayed on the Rotten Tomatoes page, but it’s not factored into the film’s fresh or rotten rating, and doesn’t contribute to a film being labeled as “certified fresh.”

Why do critics often get frustrated by the Tomatometer?

The biggest reason many critics find Rotten Tomatoes frustrating is that most people’s opinions about movies can’t be boiled down to a simple thumbs up or down. And most critics feel that Rotten Tomatoes, in particular, oversimplifies criticism, to the detriment of critics, the audience, and the movies themselves.

In some cases, a film really is almost universally considered to be excellent, or to be a complete catastrophe. But critics usually come away from a movie with a mixed view. Some things work, and others don’t. The actors are great, but the screenplay is lacking. The filmmaking is subpar, but the story is imaginative. Some critics use a four- or five-star rating, sometimes with half-stars included, to help quantify mixed opinions as mostly negative or mostly positive.

The important point here is that no critic who takes their job seriously is going to have a simple yes-or-no system for most movies. Critics watch a film, think about it, and write a review that doesn't just judge the movie but analyzes, contextualizes, and ruminates over it. The fear among many critics (including myself) is that people who rely largely on Rotten Tomatoes aren't interested in the nuances of a film, and aren't particularly interested in reading criticism, either.

But maybe the bigger reason critics are worried about the influence of review aggregators is that they seem to imply there's a “right” way to evaluate a movie, based on most people's opinions. We worry that audience members who have different reactions will feel as if their opinion is somehow wrong, rather than seeing the diversity of opinions as an invitation to read and understand how and why people react to art differently.

A screenshot of the Rotten Tomatoes score for Fight Club.

Plenty of movies — from Psycho to Fight Club to Alien — would have earned a rotten rating from Rotten Tomatoes upon their original release, only to be reconsidered and deemed classics years later as tastes, preferences, and ideas about films changed. Sometimes being an outlier can just mean you're forward-thinking.

Voris, the Rotten Tomatoes vice president, told me that the site is always trying to grapple with this quandary. “The Rotten Tomatoes curation team is constantly adding and updating reviews for films — both past and present,” he told me. “If there’s a review available from an approved critic or outlet, it will be added.”

What critics are worried about is a tendency toward groupthink, and toward scapegoating people who deviate from the “accepted” analysis. You can easily see this in the hordes of fans that sometimes come after a critic who dares to “ruin” a film's perfect score . But critics (at least serious ones) don't write their reviews to fit the Tomatometer, nor are they out to “get” DC Comics movies or religious movies or political movies or any other movies. Critics love movies and want them to be good, and we try to be honest when we see one that we don't measures up.

That doesn't mean the audience can't like a movie with a rotten rating, or hate a movie with a fresh rating. It's no insult to critics when audience opinion diverges. In fact, it makes talking and thinking about movies more interesting.

If critics are ambivalent about Rotten Tomatoes scores, why do moviegoers use the scores to decide whether to see a movie?

Mainly, it’s easy. You’re buying movie tickets on Fandango, or you’re trying to figure out what to watch on Netflix, so you check the Rotten Tomatoes score to decide. It’s simple. That’s the point.

And that’s not a bad thing. It's helpful to get a quick sense of critical consensus, even if it's somewhat imprecise. Many people use Rotten Tomatoes to get a rough idea of whether critics generally liked a film.

The flip side, though, is that some people, whether they’re critics or audience members, will inevitably have opinions that don't track with the Rotten Tomatoes score at all. Just because an individual's opinion is out of step with the Tomatometer doesn't mean the person is “wrong” — it just means they're an outlier.

And that, frankly, is what makes art, entertainment, and the world at large interesting: Not everyone has the same opinion about everything, because people are not exact replicas of one another. Most critics love arguing about movies, because they often find that disagreeing with their colleagues is what makes their job fun. It's fine to disagree with others about a movie, and it doesn't mean you're “wrong.”

(For what it’s worth, another review aggregation site, Metacritic, maintains an even smaller and more exclusive group of critics than Rotten Tomatoes — its aggregated scores cap out around 50 reviews per movie, instead of the hundreds that can make up a Tomatometer score. Metacritic’s score for a film is different from Rotten Tomatoes’ insofar as each individual review is assigned a rating on a scale of 100 and the overall Metacritic score is a weighted average, the mechanics of which Metacritic absolutely refuses to divulge . But because the site’s ratings are even more carefully controlled to include only experienced professional critics — and because the reviews it aggregates are given a higher level of granularity, and presumably weighted by the perceived influence of the critic’s publication — most critics consider Metacritic a better gauge of critical opinion.)

Does a movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score affect its box office earnings?

The short version: It can, but not necessarily in the ways you might think.

A good Rotten Tomatoes score indicates strong critical consensus, and that can be good for smaller films in particular. It’s common for distributors to roll out such films slowly, opening them in a few key cities (usually New York and Los Angeles, and maybe a few others) to generate good buzz — not just from critics, but also on social media and through word of mouth. The result, they hope, is increased interest and ticket sales when the movie opens in other cities.

Get Out , for example, certainly profited from the 99 percent “fresh” score it earned since its limited opening. And the more recent The Big Sick became one of last summer's most beloved films, helped along by its 98 percent rating. But a bad score for a small film can help ensure that it will close quickly, or play in fewer cities overall. Its potential box office earnings, in turn, will inevitably take a hit.

Yet when it comes to blockbusters, franchises, and other big studio films (which usually open in many cities at once), it’s much less clear how much a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score affects its box office tally. A good Rotten Tomatoes score, for example, doesn't necessarily guarantee a film will be a hit. Atomic Blonde is “guaranteed fresh,” with a 77 percent rating, but it didn‘t do very well at the box office despite being an action film starring Charlize Theron.

Still, studios certainly seem to believe the score makes a difference . Last summer, studios blamed Rotten Tomatoes scores (and by extension, critics) when poorly reviewed movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales , Baywatch , and The Mummy performed below expectations at the box office. ( Pirates still went on to be the year’s 19th highest-grossing film.)

2017’s highest grossing movies in the US

But that correlation doesn’t really hold up. The Emoji Movie , for example, was critically panned, garnering an abysmal 6 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. But it still opened to $25 million in the US, which put it just behind the acclaimed Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk . And the more you think about it, the less surprising it is that plenty of people bought tickets to The Emoji Movie in spite of its bad press: It's an animated movie aimed at children that faced virtually no theatrical competition, and it opened during the summer, when kids are out of school. Great reviews might have inflated its numbers, but almost universally negative ones didn't seem to hurt it much.

It's also worth noting that many films with low Rotten Tomatoes scores that also perform poorly in the US (like The Mummy or The Great Wall ) do just fine overseas, particularly in China. The Mummy gave Tom Cruise his biggest global opening ever . If there is a Rotten Tomatoes effect, it seems to only extend to the American market.

Without any consistent proof, why do people still maintain that a bad Rotten Tomatoes score actively hurts a movie at the box office?

While it’s clear that a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score and box office earnings aren't correlated as strongly as movie studios might like you to think, blaming bad ticket sales on critics is low-hanging fruit.

Plenty of people would like you to believe that the weak link between box office earnings and critical opinion proves that critics are at fault for not liking the film, and that audiences are a better gauge of its quality. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, co-star of Baywatch , certainly took that position when reviews of the 2017 bomb Baywatch came out:

Oh boy, critics had their venom & knives ready . Fans LOVE the movie. Huge positive scores. Big disconnect w/ critics & people. #Baywatch https://t.co/K0AQPf6F0S — Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) May 26, 2017

Baywatch ended up with a very comfortably rotten 19 percent Tomatometer score , compared to a just barely fresh 62 percent audience score. But with apologies to The Rock, who I’m sure is a very nice man, critics aren't weather forecasters or pundits, and they’re not particularly interested in predicting how audiences will respond to a movie. (We are also a rather reserved and nerdy bunch, not regularly armed with venom and knives.) Critics show up where they’re told to show up and watch a film, then go home and evaluate it to the best of their abilities.

The obvious rejoinder, at least from a critic’s point of view, is that if Baywatch was a better movie, there wouldn’t be such a disconnect. But somehow, I suspect that younger ticket buyers — an all-important demographic — lacked nostalgia for 25-year-old lifeguard TV show, and thus weren't so sure about seeing Baywatch in the first place. Likewise, I doubt that a majority of Americans were ever going to be terribly interested in the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (which notched a 30 percent Tomatometer score and a 64 percent audience score), especially when they could just watch some other movie.

A pile-up of raves for either of these films might have resulted in stronger sales, because people could have been surprised to learn that a film they didn’t think they were interested in was actually great. But with lackluster reviews, the average moviegoer just had no reason to give them a chance.

Big studio publicists, however, are paid to convince people to see their films, not to candidly discuss the quality of the films themselves. So when a film with bad reviews flops at the box office, it’s not shocking that studios are quick to suggest that critics killed it.

How do movie studios try to blunt the perceived impact when they’re expecting a bad Rotten Tomatoes score?

Of late, some studios — prompted by the idea that critics can kill a film’s buzz before it even comes out — have taken to “ fighting back ” when they’re expecting a rotten Tomatometer score.

Their biggest strategy isn’t super obvious to the average moviegoer, but very clear to critics. When a studio suspects it has a lemon on its hands, it typically hosts the press screening only a day or two ahead of the film's release, and then sets a review “embargo” that lifts a few hours before the film hits theaters.

Consider, for example, the case of the aforementioned Emoji Movie . I and most other critics hoped the movie would be good, as is the case with all movies see. But once the screening invitations arrived in our inboxes, we pretty much knew, with a sinking feeling, that it wouldn’t be. The tell was pretty straightforward: The film’s only critics' screening in New York was scheduled for the day before it opened. It screened for press on Wednesday night at 5 pm, and then the review embargo lifted at 3 pm the next day — mere hours before the first public showtimes.

Late critics’ screenings for any given film mean that reviews of the film will necessarily come out very close to its release, and as a result, people purchasing advance tickets might buy them before there are any reviews or Tomatometer score to speak of. Thus, in spite of there being no strong correlation between negative reviews and a low box office, its first-weekend box returns might be less susceptible to any potential harm as a result of bad press. (Such close timing can also backfire; critics liked this summer's Captain Underpants , for example, but the film was screened too late for the positive reviews to measurably boost its opening box office.)

That first-weekend number is important, because if a movie is the top performer at the box office (or if it simply exceeds expectations, like Dunkirk and Wonder Woman did this summer), its success can function as good advertising for the film, which means its second weekend sales may also be stronger. And that matters , particularly when it means a movie is outperforming its expectations, because it can actually shift the way industry executives think about what kinds of movies people want to watch. Studios do keep an eye on critics’ opinions, but they’re much more interested in ticket sales — which makes it easy to see why they don’t want risk having their opening weekend box office affected by bad reviews, whether there’s a proven correlation or not.

The downside of this strategy, however, is that it encourages critics to instinctively gauge a studio’s level of confidence in a film based on when the press screening takes place. 20th Century Fox, for instance, screened War for the Planet of the Apes weeks ahead of its theatrical release, and lifted the review embargo with plenty of time to spare before the movie came out. The implication was that Fox believed the movie would be a critical success, and indeed, it was — the movie has a 97 percent Tomatometer score and an 86 percent audience score.

And still, late press screenings fail to account for the fact that, while a low Rotten Tomatoes score doesn’t necessarily hurt a film’s total returns, aggregate review scores in general do have a distinct effect on second-weekend sales. In 2016, Metacritic conducted a study of the correlation between its scores and second weekend sales , and found — not surprisingly — that well-reviewed movies dip much less in the second weekend than poorly reviewed movies. This is particularly true of movies with a strong built-in fan base, like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , which enjoyed inflated box office returns in the first weekend because fans came out to see it, but dropped sharply in its second weekend, at least partly due to extremely negative press .

Most critics who are serious about their work make a good-faith effort to approach each film they see with as few expectations as possible. But it's hard to have much hope about a movie when it seems obvious that a studio is trying to play keep-away with it. And the more studios try to game the system by withholding their films from critics, the less critics are inclined to enter a screening devoid of expectations, however subconscious.

If you ask critics what studios ought to do to minimize the potential impact of a low Rotten Tomatoes score, their answer is simple: Make better movies. But of course, it’s not that easy; some movies with bad scores do well, while some with good scores still flop. Hiding a film from critics might artificially inflate first-weekend box office returns, but plenty of people are going to go see a franchise film, or a superhero movie, or a family movie, no matter what critics say.

The truth is that neither Rotten Tomatoes nor the critics whose evaluations make up its scores are really at fault here, and it’s silly to act like that’s the case. The website is just one piece of the sprawling and often bewildering film landscape.

As box office analyst Scott Mendelson wrote at Forbes :

[Rotten Tomatoes] is an aggregate website, one with increased power because the media now uses the fresh ranking as a catch-all for critical consensus, with said percentage score popping up when you buy tickets from Fandango or rent the title on Google Market. But it is not magic. At worst, the increased visibility of the site is being used as an excuse by ever-pickier moviegoers to stay in with Netflix or VOD.

For audience members who want to make good moviegoing decisions, the best approach is a two-pronged one. First, check Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic to get a sense of critical consensus. But second, find a few critics — two or three will do — whose taste aligns with (or challenges) your own, and whose insights help you enjoy a movie even more. Read them and rely on them.

And know that it’s okay to form your own opinions, too. After all, in the bigger sense, everyone’s a critic.

Will you support Vox today?

We believe that everyone deserves to understand the world that they live in. That kind of knowledge helps create better citizens, neighbors, friends, parents, and stewards of this planet. Producing deeply researched, explanatory journalism takes resources. You can support this mission by making a financial gift to Vox today. Will you join us?

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via

Next Up In Culture

Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day.

Thanks for signing up!

Check your inbox for a welcome email.

Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.

A man in a black T-shirt speaking into a handheld microphone in front of a crowd and a Canadian flag backdrop.

Canada’s polite Trumpism

Emergency vehicles and workers outside a bombed hospital.

Mass graves at two hospitals are the latest horrors from Gaza

The wild past 24 hours of Trump legal news, explained

Orange glowing lights blaze in the night sky over a dark city skyline.

Vox podcasts tackle the Israel-Hamas war

Two men in suits and ties shake hands, flanked by a podium and an American flag.

Donald Trump had a fantastic day in the Supreme Court today

Black and white spotted dairy cows with numbered orange ear tags lean their heads out of barred stalls.

Bird flu in milk is alarming — but not for the reason you think

an image, when javascript is unavailable

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

How did talent like this conspire to pump out such bilge? I mean, really. You expect fireworks when the always wily Robert Downey Jr. plays a slick Chicago lawyer called home to Indiana to defend his strict, disapproving judge daddy (the great Robert Duvall) on a murder charge. What you get is a fuse that never ignites. There's much more in this overstuffed, overlong slog, including Downey mixing it up with an ex-love (Vera Farmiga) and a legal nemesis (Billy Bob Thornton). But director and co-writer David Dobkin coats every cliché with cheap theatrics. Go ahead, see The Judge just for Downey and Duvall. But to cite another recent dud, this is where I leave you.

'9 to 5' Remake in the Works From Jennifer Aniston

way to make a living
By Daniel Kreps

Harvey Weinstein Survivors Saddened by Overturned NY Conviction: ‘Disappointing for All of Us’

'Shocked'
By Nancy Dillon

'Hollywood Con Queen': See First Trailer for Docuseries About Scam That Shocked the Film Industry

'baby reindeer' is tv's latest tortured-poet show.

Truth Be Told
By Alan Sepinwall

Sacha Baron Cohen Passages Redacted From Rebel Wilson's Memoir in U.K.

By Emily Zemler

Most Popular

Anne hathaway says 'gross' chemistry test in the 2000s required her to make out with 10 guys: that's the 'worst way to do it' and 'now we know better', 'the lord of the rings' trilogy returning to theaters, remastered and extended, first queen elizabeth ii memorial statue unveiled, with a smile and three corgis, in england, sources claim hugh jackman’s worrying behavior may have something to do with his breakup, you might also like, annecy selection ‘the glassworker’ unveils first trailer, sets cannes market, pakistan release dates (exclusive), l catterton acquires majority stake in kiko milano, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, andrew ahn to direct ‘reimagining’ of ‘the wedding banquet’ starring lily gladstone and bowen yang, dumb luck: nba dodges bullet as jontay porter fouls out.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

Latest Reviews
Behind The Scenes
Write For Us
Advertise With Us

Substance & Meaningful Entertainment

Against gossip & scandal, independent media network, global stories from local perspective, factual culture news, how to understand rotten tomatoes: an in-depth guide to help you decide what movies to watch next.

Caroline is currently a writer and contributor for Hollywood Insider. She believes in constant critical thinking and applied analysis when it comes to media consumption. Her goal aligns with Hollywood Insider’s mission statement, and she strives to educate readers on the nuances of the entertainment industry and to hopefully encourage them to form their own opinions on the media they consume daily.

Mar 10, 2021

Table of Contents

Hollywood Insider Rotten Tomatoes, In-Depth Guide, Movie Reviews

Photo: Rotten Tomatoes

In 2020 alone, there were more than 320 films released in the United States and Canada. That was with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent movie theater closures. The year before, there were over 800 films released. With the ever-growing number of films to watch both in theaters and on streaming platforms , it’s becoming a harder decision for viewers to pick what they want to watch. The overwhelming nature of choice has dominated the movie market for years now, but the aim of critical review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes , is to help make that choice a little easier.

Related article: 25 Royally Shocking Revelations From Prince Harry & Meghan Markle During Oprah Interview

Related article: Why Queen Elizabeth II Is One Of The Greatest Monarchs | Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of United Queendom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland (Video Insight)

Rotten Tomatoes was launched in August 1998 with the goal of merging critical reviews into an easily-readable and understandable score that viewers could use to determine whether a movie was worth their time or not. It is important to note that, in 2016, Fandango , a movie ticketing company, acquired Rotten Tomatoes and now displays their scores next to films when you’re deciding on which tickets to purchase, so to say that Rotten Tomatoes scores are incredibly influential would be an understatement. They, in front of IMDB , are one of the most trusted sources for accurate, critical ratings on all your favorite movies. But where exactly do all the critical scores come from? And what do they mean? Let’s break it down.

What Are Critical Scores? How Are They Calculated?

When you click on a movie on Rotten Tomatoes, the first thing you see are two independent scores. One signifies an aggregation of critical ratings of a film (the “Tomatometer” ) and the other, denoted by a popcorn bucket, displays audience consensus on a film. In regards to critical reviews, there are three categories that a film can fall under: rotten, fresh, and certified fresh. To put it simply, if a film is marked as “rotten”, it means that under 60% of the total reviewers left a positive review. A positive review is usually marked by a score of 6 or more out of 10, but there is also room for interpretation as to what a positive score can be due to the wide variety of rating systems that critics use.

Related article: MUST WATCH – Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s Love Letter to Black Lives Matter – VIDEO

Subscribe to Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here.

Some critics use a letter grade such as “A”, “B”, “C”, or “D” to judge films and others use a rating system out of 4 instead of 10. Ultimately, it falls to the curators of Rotten Tomatoes to clarify whether a review is positive or negative, and categorize it as such. As a side note, the overall percentage that you see at the top of the screen is the total amount of reviewers that scored the film positively. For example, ‘Coming 2 America’ currently holds a critical rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning that of the 182 reviews, only 52% of them ranked the film positively. Got it? Great, let’s move on. If a film qualifies as “fresh”, that means that more than 60% of reviewers ranked the film positively.

That number increases to 75% or more if a film is “certified fresh”, however, that title is also accompanied by a different set of qualifying rules. For example, the film in question must have been reviewed 80 times or more, as well as have reviews by five of the “top critics” to qualify as certified fresh. But let’s back up even further to examine who these critics are and what qualifying categories they have to meet in order to be accepted into the Rotten Tomatoes club.

Who Are the Critics?

Rotten Tomatoes deems that all critics meet a set of eligibility guidelines that are meant to exemplify that this person or publication is influential (and experienced) enough to write well-articulated reviews. They do this through an application-based system with some of the requirements being: you must have been writing reviews for at least two years that are being published through a non-self-published source, whether that be online or print. For social media influencers, these qualifications are different in that you must have a subscriber count of at least 30,000 to be considered “widespread” enough in your audience scope. To put it simply, most Rotten Tomatoes reviewers are qualified to review films and have already been doing so, consistently, on a different platform.

Related article: The Power of Positivity: Ikorodu Bois + Chris Hemsworth + Russo Brothers + Sam Hargrave

Limited Time Offer – FREE Subscription to Hollywood Insider

Click here to read more on Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy.

Once a critic has been approved to write for Rotten Tomatoes, they either self-submit reviews to the website or continue to publish reviews via the medium they were previously published through. In the case of the latter, Rotten Tomatoes has a team of expert curators determine whether or not the review is “fresh” or “rotten”. This team of curators poses a morally gray area as they introduce a middleman who opens the reviews to the possibility of misinterpretation. Mostly, however, Rotten Tomatoes critics submit scores themselves in order to rule out any areas of miscommunication.

Audience Scores Versus Critical Scores: Different Guidelines

Let’s switch gears a bit to talk about what an audience score is and what it means. Similarly to critical scores, the percentage at the top of the page (next to the popcorn bucket) represents the overall number of audience members who gave a film a positive review. However, it’s important to note that audience reviews have a different rating system than those described for critics, one that is universal and easier to aggregate. All audience reviews must score the film in question out of 5 stars. This shifts the rating system to a 3.5 out of 5 counting as a positive review while anything below that counts as a negative review. In this instance, and throughout this article, I’ve been using “positive” and “fresh” interchangeably as well as “negative” and “rotten” interchangeably too. Just a side note for anyone who feels confused! Luckily, the rest of the audience rating system is easier to digest. There’s a full popcorn bucket for any film that receives 60% or higher positive reviews from audience members while a spilled popcorn bucket denotes a film where less than 60% of reviewers scored the film positively.

Related article: Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase: “The Importance of Venice Film Festival as the Protector of Cinema”

Related article: The Masters of Cinema Archives: Hollywood Insider Pays Tribute to ‘La Vie En Rose’, Exclusive Interview with Director Olivier Dahan

How You Can Use Rotten Tomatoes in Your Everyday Life

Okay, so now that I just rattled off a bunch of confusing numbers and percentages to you, let’s talk about why you should care. The main takeaway I hope you have from this article is that Rotten Tomatoes, at its core, is a review aggregator, which means that ultimately those percentages you see at the top of the screen are general estimates meant to give you an overall idea of what critics think about this film. Obviously, films with higher scores that are certified fresh, and films that fall to the other extreme of the rotten scale, are easier to judge because critical consensus is more unanimous. However, all these gray areas and film critics opinions shouldn’t matter to you unless you know for certain that you like their opinions. If you are a more traditional cinephile, aka a fan of the Criterion collection or HBOMax’s lineup, then you will probably benefit from looking at solely critical scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

For example, ‘L’Avventura’ directed by Michaelangelo Antonini in 1960, has a critical score of 94%, but an audience score of 88%. In a more abstract sense, if you prefer fun, entertaining blockbusters like the majority of the general public, you may not like this film as much as the professional critics who rated it very highly. At the end of the day, Rotten Tomatoes is in no way, shape, or form a Bible that determines a film’s quality. It is best used in a subjective way that accounts for nuances and personal taste. However, in this time of ever-growing film releases via all sorts of platforms, it can be helpful to look at a number and use it to make a quick judgment of a film before you dedicate an hour or more of your life to it.

By Caroline Adamec

An excerpt from the love letter: Hollywood Insider’s CEO/editor-in-chief Pritan Ambroase affirms, “Hollywood Insider fully supports the much-needed Black Lives Matter movement. We are actively, physically and digitally a part of this global movement. We will continue reporting on this major issue of police brutality and legal murders of Black people to hold the system accountable. We will continue reporting on this major issue with kindness and respect to all Black people, as each and every one of them are seen and heard. Just a reminder, that the Black Lives Matter movement is about more than just police brutality and extends into banking, housing, education, medical, infrastructure, etc. We have the space and time for all your stories. We believe in peaceful/non-violent protests and I would like to request the rest of media to focus on 95% of the protests that are peaceful and working effectively with positive changes happening daily. Media has a responsibility to better the world and Hollywood Insider will continue to do so.”

Ways to support Black Lives Matter Movement to end systemic racism

More Interesting Stories From Hollywood Insider

– Want GUARANTEED SUCCESS? Remove these ten words from your vocabulary| Transform your life INSTANTLY

– Compilation: All James Bond 007 Opening Sequences From 1962 Sean Connery to Daniel Craig

– Do you know the hidden messages in ‘Call Me By Your Name’? Find out behind the scenes facts in the full commentary and In-depth analysis of the cinematic masterpiece

– A Tribute To The Academy Awards: All Best Actor/Actress Speeches From The Beginning Of Oscars 1929-2019 | From Rami Malek, Leonardo DiCaprio To Denzel Washington, Halle Berry & Beyond | From Olivia Colman, Meryl Streep To Bette Davis & Beyond

– In the 32nd Year Of His Career, Keanu Reeves’ Face Continues To Reign After Launching Movies Earning Over $4.3 Billion In Total – “John Wick”, “Toy Story 4”, “Matrix”, And Many More

Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes, Rotten tomatoes

You might also like…

Newsletter Subscription

Enter Your Email *
Name This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

When you purchase through Movies Anywhere , we bring your favorite movies from your connected digital retailers together into one synced collection. Join Now

The Judge | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

See Retailers

Special Features

Inside the judge, getting deep with dax shepard, rotten tomatoes® score.

The familiarity of the story hurts what is Dobkin's otherwise pleasantly sincere and straightforward direction, and a number of fine performances.

Robert Duvall gives a startlingly visceral performance in Robert Downey Jr's courtroom drama.

The hardest working movie in show business. It's a film that wants to check all the boxes and tries just a little too hard.

The supporting cast is a stellar assemblage of character actors, each offering a level of entertainment to compensate for lingering moments of overly sentimental reminiscence.

It vacillates between middlebrow familial melodrama, murder mystery, and half-baked courtroom drama.

It'll be great to watch while ironing your clothes one day.

A surprisingly moving and compelling drama which, despite a lengthy running time, does not outstay its welcome and gives Downey Jr. scope to exhibit his considerable talents.

There are the makings of a good, old-fashioned family drama here, but the film is bogged down by cliché and predictability that permeate the script.

Robert Downey Jr. relishes this role, and it shows.

A good example of talented actors taking mediocre material and making it passable entertainment.

Additional Info

Genre : Drama
Release Date : October 10, 2014
Languages : English
Captions : English
Audio Format : 5.1

You Might Also Like...

New Releases

Rotten Tomatoes Scores Used By Studios To Decide Which Director To Hire, New Report Suggests

Rotten Tomatoes scores increasingly impact directors' job opportunities, according to a report from THR .
One director representative says that critical acclaim is " gamified, " with studios using the scores to decide who to hire.
Rotten Tomatoes scores coming into prominence in studio decision-making mirrors their previous approach to box office.

Rotten Tomatoes has become increasingly important in directors getting more jobs, according to a new report. The review-aggregator website, which was originally launched in 1998, calculates a score out of 100% to assess the proportion of positive and negative reviews for a given movie or television title, with anything 60% and above considered "Fresh," or generally positive. Although other aggregator sites like Metacritic have found success alongside it in the years since it was launched, Rotten Tomatoes remains one of the most prominent online resources for measuring critical reception in the entertainment industry.

The Hollywood Reporter recently ran a report about the difficulties directors are facing in finding new projects. A director representative who was interviewed for the piece shared their opinion that " critical acclaim is now gamified ." They revealed that the Rotten Tomatoes scores for directors ' previous works are a go-to resource for producers deciding who to hire, and it " inevitably affects decision-making ." An executive's rebuttal supports this claim but seemingly defends the process, sharing that when picking a director, " all you have is their past work and a meeting ." Read their full quotes below:

Director Representative: Critical acclaim is now gamified. The Rotten Tomatoes score is the first thing people look at when I go pitch a director. It inevitably affects decision-making around hiring a director. Executive: When you hire a director, all you have is their past work and a meeting.

Is Using Rotten Tomatoes To Judge A Director Worse Than Using Box Office?

This rotten tomatoes development may be a lateral move for studios.

There are several issues inherent to using Rotten Tomatoes as an objective measure for the quality of a movie or television show. The first is that the demographic diversity of the critics hired at publications that are included in the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator does not always reflect the diversity of audiences interested in a particular title. Another issue, among many others, is the fact that a 50% score, which is deemed "Rotten," still means that a movie was enjoyed by half the critics who watched it, a grey area that isn't accurately reflected by the splat the title receives.

6 Movie Franchises With Impressive Rotten Tomatoes Streaks

The site's flaws could negatively impact the careers of directors who aren't critical darlings. However, using divisive Rotten Tomatoes scores to guide the hiring process may not be any less accurate than another studio go-to for determining success, which is box office . Both methods of measuring a director's success are fickle and require a broader context, though one isn't necessarily shakier than the other. Below, see the Top 10 highest-grossing movies of 2023 at the worldwide box office compared to their Rotten Tomatoes critic scores and where they rank in the Rotten Tomatoes Top 30 for 2023, if applicable:

This comparison shows that using Rotten Tomatoes as the only measure of success would probably turn out significantly different results from using box office. However, both measures are somewhat haphazard and represent a great deal of luck of the draw for any given director. For instance, while titles like Wonka and Elemental performed well commercially, titles that performed well critically but didn't make Top 10 appearances include Air , Past Lives , and The Holdovers . Ultimately, it seems like it would be best if studios used both methods plus a broader cultural and historical context for deciding what director to hire.

Source: THR

Rotten Tomatoes Scores Used By Studios To Decide Which Director To Hire, New Report Suggests

Cast & crew
User reviews

Challengers

Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach, turned her husband into a champion. But to overcome a losing streak, he needs to face his ex-best friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend. Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach, turned her husband into a champion. But to overcome a losing streak, he needs to face his ex-best friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend. Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach, turned her husband into a champion. But to overcome a losing streak, he needs to face his ex-best friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend.

Luca Guadagnino
Justin Kuritzkes
Josh O'Connor
46 User reviews
114 Critic reviews
85 Metascore
1 nomination

Tashi Donaldson

Art Donaldson

Patrick Zweig
Umpire (New Rochelle Final)

Art's Physiotherapist

Art's Security Guard
(as a different name)
Tashi's Mother
Line Judge (New Rochelle Final)
TV Sports Commentator (Atlanta 2019)

Leo Du Marier

Woman With Headset (Atlanta 2019)

Motel Front Desk Clerk
Motel Husband

New Rochelle Parking Lot Guard
USTA Official …
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Taking On "Challengers"

Did you know

Trivia To prepare for her role, Zendaya spent three months with pro tennis player-turned-coach, Brad Gilbert .

Tashi Donaldson : You have a better shot with a handgun in your mouth.

Connections Referenced in OWV Updates: The Seventh OWV Awards - Last Update of 2022 (2022)

User reviews 46

burntoutboy
Apr 21, 2024
When will Challengers be released? Powered by Alexa
April 26, 2024 (United States)
United States
Những Kẻ Thách Đấu
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Pascal Pictures
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

Runtime 2 hours 11 minutes
Dolby Digital
Dolby Atmos