Dee Morales shares her opinion about A Walk in the Woods. Is it popcorn worthy? Maybe not. Read more from Dee on her blog.
By the middle of the movie A Walk in the Woods, I was ready to ditch my trail mix, tackle the grizzly bears myself and throw away the trendy plaid hiker’s shirts just to get out of watching it. True, it was exciting and interesting to see both Robert Redford and Nick Nolte again, but frankly, this was not their best effort. I spent way too much time wondering how much plastic surgery Robert Redford has had, and at the same time wondered how he stays so boyish. The male of the species is simply old age-proof.
The movie revolves around the true story of a successful travel writer who decides to walk the 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail. He taps in to his friend resources and comes up with the bottom tier friend, Nolte. In spite of warnings by his wife, pleasantly played by Emma Thompson, they hit the trail. I’m not quite sure what all this walking trail business is in movies, but I saw The Wild so I felt compelled to see the curmudgeon “boy” version.
Let me state this. Guys fascinate me. My co-workers are all men. They make me laugh when they tell each other they look like a pimp or that they reek. Imagine telling a female that she looked like a prostitute. There would be flying monkeys and hell and brimstone if you did. Girls are way too sensitive. So I enjoyed that guy part of the movie with the dudes taking digs.
Other than that there wasn’t much to it. Of course, I knew they would hit bad weather and see the grizzlies. I knew they would fall down frequently and get wet and muddy. All this is just a day in the life when you have sons. They didn’t really see them have metamorphosis bonding experience or anything. No one changed. Not sure I got the end game…
Geezer movies are of interest to me as I enter that territory. But give me a great one like Bucket List or Space Cowboys. Redford and Nolte have given us some memorable moments on the screen. They made us fall in love and broken our hearts. They deserve some better material in the third act of their careers.
Save this for DVD or on demand watching, and let’s hope these two fine actors get their grove back.