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Film review

Lifeless drama tells same old story

By STEVE PERSALL
Published September 8, 2005

[Miramax

An Unfinished Life, a star-studded snore, features Robert Redford, left, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman.

	Special Report Hollywood begins its pursuit of awards with a long list of releases studios hope will make a lasting impression.

Miramax Films is currently clearing its shelves of anything with Harvey and Bob Weinstein's imprint - The Great Raid and The Brothers Grimm, for example - preparing for their exit at the end of this month. Those movies were on the shelf for reasons that became obvious on the screen. The Weinsteins' instincts are usually on the mark.

Now we add An Unfinished Life to the list of fire sale items, although a movie with less spark is hard to imagine. How can this cast and director fail? Filmed two years ago, An Unfinished Life feels like an unfinished movie, a star-studded snore.

Two years ago, the chance to see Robert Redford doing a variation on Jeremiah Johnson must have been exciting. Jennifer Lopez still had pre-Gigli potential, and Morgan Freeman thought this film would help him prepare for a similar sidekick sage role in Million Dollar Baby. Hindsight shows only Freeman had the right idea. Not counting the Weinsteins, of course.

Redford plays Einar Gilkyson, a Wyoming rancher whose son was killed in a car accident a dozen years ago. He always held a grudge against his daughter-in-law, Jean (Lopez), who was driving and fell asleep. Einar lives semisecluded with his hired hand Mitch (Freeman), who was mauled by a bear and requires a lot of morphine. Mitch is still lucid enough to see through Einar's sour exterior and knows when to call his gruff bluff.

The relationship between the men is so macho lovey-dovey that when a character asks if they're gay, it's supposed to be a joke, yet we expect them to nod in agreement. Both actors offer what they do best: Redford's effortless magnetism and Freeman's baritone sainthood. Perhaps focusing exclusively upon their dynamic would make An Unfinished Life better. But director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, The Shipping News) has a lot of familiar ground to cover besides the old guys.

Jean left soon after the accident, so Einar didn't know she was pregnant with his granddaughter Griff (Becca Gardner), now age 11. He'll learn soon enough, after Jean escapes her stereotypically abusive boyfriend Gary (Damian Lewis). They take a road trip to Wyoming, asking Einar to left them stay for a month. He balks, then relents, or else there wouldn't be a movie. Jean gets a job as a waitress, flirts with the suitably hunky sheriff (Josh Lucas) and worries that Gary will find her.

Of course he does, bringing the only hint of tension with him, but not for long.

The bear also gets plenty of screen time as a symbol of the wilderness, Mitch's mortality, Einar's stubbornness and anything else Hallstrom can heap on his sloping shoulders. There's also Jean's feisty boss (Camryn Manheim), whose personal tragedy is yet another factor in everyone's eventual enlightenment.

Redford and Freeman make a nice tandem - Freeman would be a nice tandem with anyone - and even Gardner gets better when she's around them. Lopez's limitations are obvious; it takes more than a pained expression and a bogus bruise to play an abused woman. Hallstrom and editor Andrew Mondshein finally decide to cut away from her whenever possible. Often she's only an off-screen voice and we see other people's reactions.

Viewers are left to admire the picturesque landscapes (actually British Columbia) and wonder who approved Deborah Lurie's obsessively maudlin musical score. We know what will happen to each character upon introduction: The crabby guys turns soft, the battered woman toughens up, the abuser gets bruised, and a precocious child will lead them all. The only surprise An Unfinished Life could possibly offer is a money back guarantee.

Grade: C-

Director: Lasse Hallstrom.

Cast: Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Morgan Freeman, Becca Gardner, Josh Lucas, Camryn Manheim, Damien Lewis, Bart the Bear II.

Screenplay: Mark Spragg, Virginia Korus Spragg, based on the novel by Mark Spragg.

Rating: PG-13; violence, profanity, brief sexual situations, mature themes.

Running time: 108 min.

[Last modified September 7, 2005, 09:26:06]