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by: Christopher Rosen
“The Judge” is actually almost ready-made for cable viewing. The supporting cast includes Leighton Meester, Dax Shepard, Vera Farmiga, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ken Howard and Billy Bob Thornton, all of whom have appeared on television series within the last five years. Add those names to the film’s garish lighting, supplied by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (who never met a window he didn’t want to blow out with white light), and “The Judge” feels like an actual legal drama coming to ABC this fall. You’re almost surprised James Spader and William Shatner don’t show up.
Well, they don’t. But Willie Nelson sort of does. Nelson doesn’t appear in “The Judge,” but his name is the subject of a one-liner during the film and his cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” plays over the closing credits. That part of the movie is weird and surprising — two things “The Judge” is not as it plays things down the middle.
“The Judge” is out on Oct. 10.
