An Unfinished Life
Miramax Films | Release Date: September 9, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
16
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
PremiereRyan 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
75
ReelViewsJames 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
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Poignant and well-acted, it offers heartfelt moments leavened by subtle humor. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris 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
70
Chicago ReaderStaff (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
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam 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
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Creaks and groans with pat emotionalism and rickety storytelling. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
Thoroughly predictable from start to finish. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael 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
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven 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
63
New York Daily NewsJack 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
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film never realizes its dramatic potential, choosing to take predictable story paths with obvious characters. Read full review
60
VarietyLeslie 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
60
Dallas ObserverLuke 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
60
EmpireAnna Smith
Predictable and pleasant, with enjoyable performances. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMark 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
50
The A.V. ClubKeith 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
50
Miami HeraldRene 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
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth 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
50
New York PostKyle 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
50
SalonStephanie 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
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick 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
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Like most of Hallström's Hollywood movies ("The Cider House Rules," "Chocolat"), this one is excruciatingly tasteful. Read full review
50
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
40
L.A. WeeklyScott 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
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland 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
40
The New RepublicStanley 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
38
Rolling StonePeter 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
33
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Solemn, sentimental bore of a movie that suffocates in its own predictability and watered-down psychobabble. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This unusual convergence of stars doesn't amount to much. Read full review
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