We've grown used to seeing Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man suit over the past couple years, and it's been a while since he's done any serious dramatic acting, so can the once and future Tony Stark win an Oscar? Perhaps he'll finally get the golden statue for 'The Judge,' as it seems he's chasing one going by the film's first trailer.

Here Downey Jr. (who debuted the trailer via his twitter account) is a hotshot lawyer who comes home to defend his father (Robert Duvall) from a murder charge. Oh, also he hates his dad. And there's a bartender (Vera Farmiga) in the town that's cute. And the district attorney (Billy Bob Thornton) looks to be exceptionally skilled. And it looks like he need to reconnect with his inner humanity as he mostly defends scumbags. Honestly, this looks like a throwback to the run of John Grisham adaptations done about twenty years ago, which is both good and bad. It will also be interesting to see how David Dobkin (who's most famous for directing 'The Wedding Crashers') handles the material, which looks very familiar.

Here's the film's synopsis:

From Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures comes “The Judge,” which pairs two-time Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. (“Chaplin,” “Tropic Thunder”) and Oscar winner Robert Duvall (“Tender Mercies,” “Crazy Heart”), starring together for the first time on the big screen.  The film also stars Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air,” “The Conjuring”) and Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton (“Sling Blade,” “Friday Night Lights”), and is directed by David Dobkin (“Wedding Crashers”).

In “The Judge,” Downey stars as big city lawyer Hank Palmer, who returns to his childhood home where his estranged father, the town’s judge (Duvall), is suspected of murder.  He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.

The film also features a stellar supporting cast, including Vincent D’Onofrio (TV’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”), Jeremy Strong (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “Lincoln”), Dax Shepard (TV’s “Parenthood”), Oscar winner Melissa Leo (“The Fighter,” “Prisoners”), Leighton Meester (TV’s “Gossip Girl”), Ken Howard (“J. Edgar,” “Michael Clayton”), Emma Tremblay (“Elysium”), Balthazar Getty (TV’s “Brothers & Sisters”), David Krumholtz (“This Is the End”), Sarah Lancaster (TV’s “Chuck”), Grace Zabriskie (TV’s “Big Love”) and Denis O’Hare (TV’s “True Blood”).

'The Judge' hits theaters October 10. Here's the film's poster:

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