Jean Gilkyson (Jennifer Lopez) is on the run with her daughter Griff (Becca Gardner) from her abusive boyfriend Gary Winston (Damian Lewis). She has no where else to turn to except for her estranged former father-in-law Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford) who still blames her for the death of his son. Einar is taking care of injured Mitch Bradley (Morgan Freeman) from a bear attack. Both Einar and Mitch must come to terms with the past. Crane Curtis (Josh Lucas) is the sheriff in town who falls for Jean.I don't know what happened to the distribution but I certainly don't remember this movie being released. It's got Redford and Freeman. That alone should have been noteworthy. I get why some people dismiss Lopez but she does a really good job in this one. She's a good actress in the right project. This is an emotionally deep movie with great subtle performances from everybody to match. Director Lasse Hallström isn't bringing any flash to this and it can seem slow for some. Redford is just outstanding and his performance deserves to be rewarded.

This movie was...okay...for what it was, I guess. Redford IS great in this. He looks very grizzled and worn out and plays his stoic character very well. Some good, tender moments come out of his interaction with his granddaughter. The rest of the cast was functional, although no one else really stood out. The movie was very predictable, and had a few moments of unrealistic sentimentality. The scene near the end where Morgan Freeman and the bear confront each other was, to me, cringe-inducing. Do you think this bear thought to himself "Well, I've already messed this guy up...I think this time I'll give him a pass"? This is a PREDATOR. They don't think in those terms. They sense a threat or a meal, and you are in big trouble. Of course, this was played up for the "Awww" factor, but I found it insulting and unrealistic. Also, there was really no big climax. The penultimate scene, where Redford kicks abusive Gary's ass and sends him on his way was played out much too quickly, and Gary pretty much tucked his tail between his legs, and caught the first bus out of town. That was it. There should have been something much more menacing about Gary. He shouldn't have been that easy to scare off. The movie didn't so much end as it just kind of petered out.The scenery and Redford's acting were first rate, and everyone else did a decent job, but overall I found it to be disappointing.

Its a story about forgiveness. Its about how Einar (Redford) tries to forgive his daughter-in-law Jean (Jennifer Lopez). The story happens in a hillside village where a bear that hit Einar's close friend Mitch (Morgan Freeman) once and wounded him badly. All these have something intertwined between them. Fate. Forgiveness.I liked this movie's tone. It is not compelling anything to the audience. No overdone or dramatized emotions. No tear-filling performances. But different ones. Simple family emotions. To this simple story this gives a feeling that 'nothing happened' at all. But that's what life is for most of us. Nothing happened but everything is changed thereafter.Morgan Freeman (e.g. moments before the bear),Robert Redford, Becca Gardner, Jennifer Lopez.. sorted order of likable performances. If you liked the Director's earlier movies then there is a good chance that you would like this movie. I liked the director's narration style. Its a very under-toned style. That makes it impossible to forget the characters for me. For you ? Watch and find out.

Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez. Each one is the owner of a specific perspective or a perspective appeal which everybody will expect them to perform. Except for Lopez, the other two are perfectly convinced of the importance to the whole world that someone like them exist. At least as actors. So, if this premises make the creation of a film with this mixture something quite hard to achieve, join Lasse Hallström to the group. For what i've seen, he did fairly well in Chocolate, because the group of actors was good (Depp and Binoche, Molina and Dench). Predictably he wouldn't do anything worthwhile here. Confirmed.Start with the script. It just moves the necessary stones to make what Redford and Freeman need in the first place. The first one recovers his character from 'Out of Africa', free spirit, detached from the conventions of the ordinary world, trying to live a free life, and paying the price of unhappy and ultimately undesired loneliness. Freeman recovers his only character. The 'i'm always right' guy. The man of the words, incredible how he made a career out of delivering the same kind of insipid thinking over and over again, without any tone change. Some good actors started doing it in the curse of the career (Hopkins, sometimes Nicholson), but this one did it all the time. Jennifer Lopez plays along, she's more honest in her integration here than the other two, at least she doesn't take personal egos into it.Also the base problem of stories of good and evil. This case we have the also common variant of good, yet deviated people. Lopez and Redford's characters have a dark event in their common past that separated them, but deep down they're good, very good people. This is established from the beginning. I mean, what's the point? Not even the potentially interesting connection with the wilderness of the spirit (the relation with the bear, and all the meanings that could flow from there) was well made. Well, there was also a role Freeman would have to perform.The landscapes were well chosen, it had potential, pity the sad story that was placed there.Side note: did the violent ex-boyfriend go back to town just to get beaten by Redford? Or was there some angle i missed? My opinion: 1/5http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com