Phony as a $3 bill: Two bad movies

The Judge oh so painfully strives to be a great movie - and his has all the elements - family drama, prodigal son returns home, courtroom thriller, cute kid, romance between two attractive leads, even a touch of humor - and yet, and yet - it's as phony as a $3 bill, right from the first frame, when Rbt Downey Jr., playing a handsome but dislikable guy (ie playing himself?), a tough courtroom attorney, humiliates an opposing lawyer by literally pissing on him - and it gets worse from there. For some reason never explained sufficiently he's estranged from his father, and irascible tyrant paterfamilias played by Rbt Duvall (playing himself?). Downey has to go back home for first time in years when mother dies; father shuns him at first but eventually comes to need him and even warm to him, etc. etc., as Downey gets called upon to defend father in a legal matter. As in all movies, the entire town suspended its life during the years of his absence, so when he returns home, lo and behold, beautiful h.s. sweetheart is still there waiting for him! There's hardly a believable moment in the film - although some of the scenes focused on the younger brother who has some kind of retardation or mental disability are sweet in a way. The rest of the film is just contrived and listless and way, way too long. Will note for the record that I also watched the first five minutes of the crude, fake, and entirely unfunny This is 40 and for me - that was it. Screenwriters have to learn more about life and about the way people talk, act, interact, and behave - and less about script formatting and arcs of stories and three acts or whatever the # of acts is and then maybe we can get more movies that are actually funny, moving, or true to life - not like these 2 duds.