ROBERT REDFORD & NICK NOLTE IN A WALK IN THE WOODS

year: 2015

There's a classic (though probably unintentional) homage when Robert Redford, as a bored travelogue writer, and Nick Nolte, as his once-wild companion, are staring off the edge of an Appalachian Trail peak with nowhere to go but way, way down... Well the younger SUNDANCE could have survived but these guys are just too old to take risks... Though not entirely...

The hike is quite a chore, especially so late in life, and the first twenty minutes doesn't really develop the characters but plays a sort of hesitation game while learning about other people that don't matter much (like Emma Thompson as a wife so open-minded she's just not interesting)... So once the journey finally gets underway, it's all about Redford's classy-wise Bill and Nolte's shaggy, weathered Stephan.

Feeling catered to a mainstream audience and taking on a BUCKET LIST plot without Cancer, the movie itself hikes from here to there in a breezy, safe fashion. So when a load of misadventures happen (and keep happening) to the boys, from an annoying female camper to a jealous small town husband, the results feel contrived. But there is one particular scene (led by Nolte) where they not only genuinely bond with each other, the audience gets to see past the cliche "we're too old for this" template and the two veteran actors get to finally... act their talents.

Rating: **1/2