Reba McEntire’s The Hammer puts McEntire on the bench as a district court judge in rural Nevada. The formalities are lax in the small Nevada towns she presides over and the approach to law enforcement is elastic as well.

Reba McEntire’s The Hammer probably makes lawyers and judges cringe, but as someone who just wanted to see a movie, I thought this was a good one. It was a perfect setup for a series with a new case each week, but that didn’t happen.

The film was made for Lifetime, but I found it streaming on Tubi. It’s also on Hulu and Fawesome.

Judge Kimberly Wheeler (McEntire) is returning to the place where she grew up for this job. Her sister Kris (Melissa Peterman) runs the sex trade in a group of travel trailers set in a spot of bare dirt and called The Shady Lady. (Melissa Peterman has played a sister to Reba McEntire before.)

The previous judge died in one of The Shady Lady’s campers to get the story started.

There’s the case of the dead judge, various drug cases involving only young women, and an accidental death charge against the son of local rich guy Bart Crawford played by Rex Linn, another face familiar to Reba fans.

Kris takes care of their dad, who had dementia. Kim was mistreated by her dad as a child, which is one reason why she left for so many years.

Kim inherits a women (Jill Morrison) who worked for the former judge. Her bailiff Vicky (Kay Shioma Metchie) becomes almost a bodyguard for her because Kim receives threats against her life almost from the minute she arrives.

There are some gorgeous scenes of “Nevada”. Long straight highways through the middle of nowhere that Kim drives way over the speed limit on. Small towns with houses clustered together that are miles from the next town. Ranch houses set well back away from the road. The problem with that is the film was shot in Canada.

In spite of its flaws, this is a light and satisfying movie that gives you a feel-good watch. If you like Reba, I think you’ll get a kick out of this movie.