An Unfinished Life Movie Review:


The sight of Robert Redford back on a horse is a reassuring one; somehow, it makes one feel that all is right in the world. Two other equally welcome sights are Morgan Freeman, whom I would pay money to watch reading the phone book, and Jennifer Lopez, who, in the right role, can be as talented as she is beautiful. These three names are the things that make “An Unfinished Life” bearable, but the story is so predictable and by-the-numbers, the characters such clichés, that I felt like I had seen the movie a dozen times before.

Redford plays Einar Gilkyson, who owns a ranch, and whose son was killed about ten years ago. His old farmhand and friend Mitch lives on the farm with him, but doesn’t get out much since he was injured by a grizzly bear that, at the start of the movie, is caught and put in the local ‘zoo,’ a word which is used loosely here.

Einar’s daughter-in-law, Jean (Lopez), has not see him since her husband died, but when her current boyfriend beats her up once too often, she goes there to get away from him, bringing her daughter. Einar was not aware that he had a grandchild. He grudgingly lets them stay for a few days.

If you can’t see where this is all going, you’ve seen far fewer movies than I have. Let it be said that I would have been surprised if Einar remained distant from Jean and her daughter, Mitch had no interesting stories to tell about Einar, Jean didn’t find a nice new guy in town, and the abusive boyfriend was never heard from again. I was not surprised. There are the usual arguments, reconciliations, hearts broken, hearts mended, mistakes, forgiveness. There is also a subplot about freeing the bear, but don’t even get me started on that.

I wondered how Lasse Hallström, the Swedish director behind the wonderful “The Cider House Rules” could have made such an uninspired picture, but then, there is nothing inherently wrong with the direction; the problem lies at the script level. It’s the type of thing that needed to be re-written a few times, and then probably abandoned. Without the star names attached, the movie would be right at home on ITV or Channel 5 at about 1 o’clock on a weekday afternoon.

I am reminded, though, that a basic plot description can never really give you the sense of what a movie is like; the same story could be taken by two movies, one good, one bad. It all depends on how it’s done. And “An Unfinished Life” is done with strong performances and pleasant photography, so it’s a shame it’s all tied down to a second-rate screenplay.

Adam Whyte

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