An Unfinished Life 2005

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This is certainly not a movie worth going out of your way for, but don't be surprised if you happen to come across it on cable one rainy Sunday afternoon and find yourself watching it to the end. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: In this careful, dot-to-dot prestige picture, everybody learns their lessons on cue, the abusive ex gets his comeuppance and the bear (played by Bart the Bear) who nearly murdered Mitch is freed from confinement by Einar and Griff. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Hallstrom specializes in tales of pent-up longing and hesitant reconciliation, but this cinematic Hallmark card is too prettified and predictable for his reliably delicate touch. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I really did love this film, from Redford's showcase performance to the ensemble cast, to all that gorgeous scenery. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: An Unfinished Life has an old-fashioned solidity about it. It can be slow at times, but the movie knows what it's doing and how to do it, thanks to director Lasse Hallstrom and his capable cast. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Hallstrom ropes an all-star cast into what's essentially a glossed-up TV movie. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Excruciatingly tasteful. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: If you've ever seen a movie, you know what's going to happen. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: Manages to be both moving and poignant largely because of the superb acting, cinematography and direction. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: It's a good story, well told, honed just short of a distracting sheen. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: It's awful not in an exciting, uncontrolled way but in an overly controlled, narcotized way, an imitation of too many inspirational heal-the-pain dramas that Miramax has released since the dawn of their Oscar age. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: This film's plot mechanics become too, well, mechanical. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: This is the kind of movie where someone gets unreasonably upset over a broken plate and you realize that the plate is actually supposed to be a metaphor for a broken relationship -- at which point you begin to glance longingly toward the fire exits. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: An inspirational family drama for the terminally uninspired. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: An Unfinished Life means well, but it's hard to give it much credit beyond that. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: It's no great thing, but in their heyday as Oscar campaigners, they could have made Redford a contender. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: An Unfinished Life is powerful, intriguing, thought-provoking and unforgettable. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopez star in a sentimental western that suffocates in its own predictability and watered-down psychobabble. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's the movie that feels incomplete. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An Unfinished Life isn't original, but, for those who enjoy this sort of drama, it's an opportunity to remember how, in the right circumstances, on-screen characters can touch our hearts. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [The film] is modest and heartfelt, dealing directly with straightforward material. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The picture is outrageously predictable and somewhat poky, but there's also something admirably bold about the way it so adamantly demands we swallow its hokum. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The grizzly may have mauled Mitch, but by the end, that metaphor has mauled us. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: An unabashedly sudsy soap opera that overflows with warm fuzzies. It's also really well done. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: By the conclusion, the movie turns into the ursine answer to Free Willy, veering dangerously close to New Age parody. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The picture has no discernible reason for being. It's impossible to identify with characters who seem so fond of their own misery, they can't be bothered to communicate even the most basic facts about themselves. Read more

Time Out: Call it "the Sundance effect," in which sentimental family drama blossoms amid a scenic, pastoral American landscape, with all its connotations of unspoiled purity and rejuvenation. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: An Unfinished Life doesn't succumb to the emotional dumbing-down that has become the norm in movies. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: A film is in some kind of trouble when, despite presence of an A-list cast and well-regarded director, the best thing in it is a partly digitized bear. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: Lasse Hallstrom never met a case of advanced emotional constipation he couldn't unplug in two psychobabbly hours or less. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Redford's hellbound to remain the craggy cowboy who hides his feelings under Marlboro Man stoicism. Must he act like a River Runs Through everything? Read more