Justice Takes a Holiday: Just Plain Mean

Is this worth your time?

If you like old-school melodrama that feels a bit unhinged, you’ll dig this. If you need your movies to have, you know, logical human behavior, you’ll probably hate it. It’s definitely for the crowd that likes their 1930s cinema with a side of questionable ethics.

The whole setup is just wildly petty. Most movie judges are just background noise, but here, the judge is a straight-up villain who uses the law as a personal weapon. The moment he decides to adopt the girl just to spite the father in prison? It’s pure soap opera nastiness.

I found myself staring at the screen wondering who actually thought this was a good idea. The judge’s motivation is so petty it almost circles back around to being impressive. He isn't just punishing a crime; he's curating a nightmare.

The pacing is a bit of a rollercoaster, too. Sometimes it feels like a stage play where people just stand around explaining their feelings, then suddenly there’s a prison break. It’s like the writers realized they needed something to happen and just shoved it in.

If you’ve seen Wages of Sin, you might recognize that feeling of 'why is everyone making such terrible choices.' This is definitely in that same vein. It’s not subtle, but it’s hard to look away.

• The prison break scene is surprisingly low-budget, even for the time.
• The dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had only ever heard people talk in courtrooms.
• The daughter character is basically just a prop for the men to argue over.

There’s a weird, stiff energy to the whole thing. It doesn’t have the fluidity of a modern thriller, but it has this strange, jagged charm. It’s not great, but it’s definitely not boring. Sometimes you just need to watch a guy lose his mind over a judge being a creep. 🎞️