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Unfinished Life, An
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 38 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Mark Spragg
Virginia Korus Spragg
Directed by: Lasse Hallström
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 9, 2005
DVD: April 11, 2006
Running Time: 107 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some violence including domestic abuse, and language
Starring Jennifer Lopez, Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, Josh Lucas, Damian Lewis, Becca Gardner, and Camryn Manheim
Set against the rugged ranchlands of Wyoming, An Unfinished Life is the story of a modern-day Western family, as stoic as they are divided, learning the true meaning of forgiveness. (Miramax)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Casanova Chocolat The Cider House Rules The Hoax The Shipping News
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Premiere Ryan Devlin
You can't help but see this movie being crafted out of shards of movies past, seemingly in a cut and paste method. In the hands of a less skillful director, the film could very easily flop, but it doesn't.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
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 Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Sometimes you are either open to a movie, or closed. If you're convinced that An Unfinished Life is damaged goods, how can it begin its work on you?
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Poignant and well-acted, it offers heartfelt moments leavened by subtle humor.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Your basic Lasse Hallstrom formula-film, featuring people in dire situations who are redeemed when their basic goodness comes to the fore, elevated a notch by a pair of actors displaying sides we don't often see.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Staff (Not credited)
If the plot seems overly familiar, Lasse Hallstrom at least directs the action with conviction and style, and his drama is greatly abetted by the scenic big sky locales.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Creaks and groans with pat emotionalism and rickety storytelling.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Redford also deserves a lot of credit. It's not the kind of showcase that's going to earn him an Oscar, but, without too many compromises, he manages to find the soul of a difficult character and makes his emotional odyssey both believable and satisfying.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Everything about An Unfinished Life's screenplay is cliched and predictable, but the actors manage to elevate the proceedings above and beyond shameless soap.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Nothing unexpected happens in An Unfinished Life--the title comes from the engraving on the dead son's headstone--but Canada sure looks lovely, and the acting's pretty solid.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
It's no great thing, but in their (Weinstein brothers') heyday as Oscar campaigners, they could have made Redford a contender.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Perhaps realizing that rare performances in snoozers like "The Horse Whisperer" and "The Last Castle" weren't doing him (Redford) any favors, he seems to have entered a new phase in his career, with a wealth of old man roles now open to him. He was very good in last year's "The Clearing;" he's better in this.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
The film never realizes its dramatic potential, choosing to take predictable story paths with obvious characters.
Read Full Review >Variety Leslie Felperin
A film is in trouble when, despite the presence of an A-list cast and a well-regarded director, the best thing in it is a partly digitized bear.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Mark Holcomb
As with the director's other films, all that keeps Unfinished from being a complete, treacly bore is its robust performances.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
It's corny, but the film might have worked anyway, had anyone brought a lick of conviction to the business. But Lopez--once such a promising actress--now does little but pose, and everyone else seems to have figured out that the film wasn't going anywhere before the cameras started rolling.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
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. Even Lopez pulls off a few good moments.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
It's an acceptable film, but the story of family ties and forgiveness simply cannot manage the emotional connections it is desperate for.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
By the conclusion, the movie turns into the ursine answer to "Free Willy," veering dangerously close to New Age parody: Free your inner bear -- and begin to heal from the last time you got mauled.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Freeman is Freeman, all homespun dignity. Surely it's time for him to play a saucy interior decorator or a crazed dictator.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Like most of Hallström's Hollywood movies ("The Cider House Rules," "Chocolat"), this one is excruciatingly tasteful.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
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 Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A perfectly OK drama, with a good cast and many good scenes, but it suffers from the usual maladies that films get when they've been out on the ranch too long: all-too-obvious symbolism and a serious case of the longueurs.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The film, so far as it is betrayable, is betrayed by the casting of Jean. She is played by Jennifer Lopez, a sexy star who is out of key with the picture and is presumably on hand to supply the oomph that Redford no longer provides.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Lasse Hallstrom's leisurely drama about remorse, forgiveness and spiritual healing is a film of big emotions and ferociously small gestures.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The 68-year-old actor (Redford) segues into full-blown irascible-old-man mode, and though the transformation isn't quite as compelling as it sounds, it's easily the best thing going for this Lasse Hallstrom–directed, Wyoming-set weepie.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's not just that Jennifer Lopez looks lost and out of her league acting with Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman. That's to be expected. It's the drag-ass solemnity of this turgid family drama that makes you crazy.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
An Unfinished Life is inert, kaput -- a middlebrow mush of platitudes rather than an okay corral of distinct characters with heartbeats. It's awful not in an exciting, uncontrolled way but in an overly controlled, narcotized way.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Solemn, sentimental bore of a movie that suffocates in its own predictability and watered-down psychobabble.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
This unusual convergence of stars doesn't amount to much.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Robert C gave it a7:
I'm 75, a Norwegian and a sucker for films of this type. Sure it's formula and pulls all the strings. Even the bear decides these people are neighborly. Refreshing to see good smelling manure that I can enjoy without guilt.
Owen C. gave it a10:
the best movie i've ever seen. i can't believe critics are so against this movie. this movie is AWESOME if u can see it at all costs.
Amurabi M. gave it a5:
Lasse Hallstrom tends to direct corny movies with the idea of the union of the great american family despite troubles and difficulties. This is not an exception. This is so predictable (watching the trailer is better), boring (you can do everything you want as you watch it) and solemn (western parody or homage?) that will probably you falls in a state of inertia after seen this. An Unfinished Life has trouble for casting to the weak Lopes in this juicy role. She has troubles dealing with Redford and Freeman and even with newcomer Becca Gardner. Its better attributes looks great in jeans but no more than that. Redford (assuming, at least, that he´s an old man) and Freeman (great but in an stereotipical role for this actor) are the best part of the film. Its interaction looks familiar and believable. Great cinematography, and a decent score (everything looks suspiciously like a copy from that ang lee movie), An Unfinished Life is just an exercise of industrial cinema: the kind of weepie movies with a "message" within. Crap! The most entertaining and dramatic part was a shot in Freeman´s butt using a syringe, it´s that suspenseful? dramatic? I don´t think so. It feels that cheap symbolism is just an idea of being "profound" and "clever" but with this, that looks corny and pretentious.
Marc D. gave it a10:
The best movie of 2005. I'm completely shocked by the lukewarm reviews. Are we so jaded that a well executed family drama can no longer be admired, regardless of its simplicity? Jennifer Lopez was nothing but perfect in the movie and if she were not famous, no critic would have targeted her, otherwise. A perfectly made human drama.
M. Wheatley gave it an8:
Redford, Freeman, Bart the Bear 2, new young actress Becca Gardner and a one of Jennifer's best roles since "Out of Sight" make this one of my recent faves. I find it facinating that all that I recommend it to at the video store where II work come back very satified and the critical response is very lukewarm. I wonder why the IMDB vote is over 7 and this site's almost 7 and yet only mixed or average critical response. Believe the people, not the critics. This is a very well made, heartfelt story with interesting characters.
Frank O. gave it a7:
Best part of this movie was the interaction between Grandpa and his granddaughter. Redfor was good as a crotchedy old man; Freeman is his usual superb sidekick role. Lopez is okay but why would she sleep with a man after getting out of an abusive relationship, doesn't make sense to me.
evelin s. gave it a10:
Very good movie. I love it! Jennifer Lopez is soo good and Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman are also very good. You must watch it!
