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Back Shelf Beauties
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An Unfinished Life Jennifer Lopez stars as Jean - a single, widowed mother who drifts from one bad relationship to another. Sadly, her current boyfriend, Gary (Damian Watson), is physically abusive, so, once she is fed up with his mistreatment, Jean gathers up her daughter, Griff (Becca Gardner), and decides to head home to Wyoming and the only person who might be able to help - Einer (Robert Redford). Jean and Einer's son were a young, deeply-in-love married couple when tragedy struck 11 years ago, and Einer has always blamed her for his son's death. Because of this strife, Jean never let him know she was pregnant with Griff, and left town hoping to never see him again. Can Einer put aside his grief and anger to help Jean and Griff when they need him most? Will Gary be able to find Jean? An Unfinished Life is a solid movie with good acting performances, but it lacks the emotional punch one would expect from this sort of tale (an emotional punch needed to blow us away as we watch these personal struggles). Director Lasse Hallstrom does a good job establishing the story and characters, as well as setting a very quiet mood appropriate for his open country western location, but the story moves as slowly as that grizzly bear walking down the mountain in the opening sequence. Sometimes, this is welcome and very fitting, but Hallstrom needs to ratchet up the emotion. Writers Mark and Virginia Korus Spragg provide scenes where the emotion is supposed to bubble over and grab the audience's attention, but Hallstrom doesn't quite build up to them, so we are left wondering why everyone is so upset all of the sudden (married men and men with girlfriends are very familiar with this feeling). The Spraggs also give us plenty of subplots that never seem to complement the main story. We get to know Einer's long time worker and pal, Mitch (Morgan Freeman) as well as some of the locals like Sheriff Crane Curtis (Josh Lucas) and diner owner Nina (Cameryn Manheim), but they don't make huge contributions to the story's main conflict between Einer and Jean. They are supporting characters in every sense of the word, and do provide advice to our leads when needed as well as add some flavor to the movie, but seem almost pointless and distracting most of the time. I guess Mitch's subplot and that bear are supposed to be some sort of metaphor, and Crane is there to be the handsome romantic interest, but actors of this ability need something more substantial to justify their presence. They might even do something amazing and make the movie into a memorable one. Doing his best Clint Eastwood impression, Redford is awesome. Often known as a pretty boy, Redford adds grizzle and toughness to the old cowboy he portrays. He even gives Einer a bit of that John Wayne-type swagger a ranch guy would develop after years of riding a horse (the chafing is what will get you in the end, those cowboys don't believe in baby powder). Freeman plays his familiar wise confidante role with plenty of gravitas, while Lopez is able to raise her ability to match up with the old, venerable vets. It's further proof she has some talent when properly challenged. An Unfinished Life is worth seeing, but don't expect to be blown away. 2 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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