A Walk in the Woods

In the course of Hollywood filmmaking, the 'buddy film' concept has been around for quite some time. Truly the reason for this is the audience's love of seeing two individuals thrown together in a situation where the more opposite they are, the more interesting and uproarious the storyline has a tendency to be. Even though the buddy film is usually reserved for the genre of comedy, it can and has been used in some dramas as well. However, the comedies are the most familiar: "Buddy, Buddy", "Midnight Run", "Lethal Weapon", "Thelma & Louise", "Sideways" even the recent "Paper Towns". Now we have yet another one to add to that ever growing list, "A Walk in the Woods".

In this new comedy adventure, celebrated travel writer, Bill Bryson (Robert Redford), instead of retiring to enjoy his loving and beautiful wife, Catherine (Emma Thompson), and large and happy family, challenges himself to hike the Appalachian Trail--2,200 miles of America's most unspoiled, spectacular and rugged terrain from Georgia to Maine. The peace and tranquility he hopes to find, though, is anything but, once he agrees to be accompanied by the only person he can find willing to join him on the trek--his long lost and former friend Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte), a down-on-his-luck serial philanderer who, after a lifetime of relying on his charm and wits to keep one step ahead of the law--sees the trip as a way to sneak out of paying some debts and sneak into one last adventure before it's too late. The trouble is, the two have a completely different definition of the word 'adventure'. Now they're about to find out that when you push yourself to the edge, the real fun begins.

Others to round out the cast are Mary Steenburgen as Jeannie, Nick Offerman as REI Dave, Kristen Schaal as Mary Ellen, R. Keith Harris as Sam Bryson, Bill's son, Randall Newsome as TV Host, Hayley Lovitt as Donna, Linds Edwards as Darren, Susan McPhail as Beulah, Andrew Vogel as Young Hiker #1, and Derek Krantz as Young Hiker #2.

This was directed well by veteran Ken Kwapis ("The Beniker Gang" '85, "Vibes" '88, "He Said, She Said" '91, "Dunston Checks In" '96, "Noah" (TV movie) '98, "About a Boy" (TV movie) '03, "Sexual Life" '05, "License to Wed" '07, "He's Just Not That Into You" '09, "Big Miracle" '12) plus others. One thing I can say for this guy is that he can't be pigeon-holed. He has been very eclectic in what he has helmed, whether intentional or not. So with this, I can certainly appreciate him going out on that limb with each film he does. The projects aren't difficult projects, but varied they are. This was written by two very new writers, Rick Kerb and Bill Holderman based on Bill Bryson's book of the same name. Considering the newness of these writers, this was scripted almost as well as any seasoned writer out there today. Holderman has been producing films since the last eight years, but this is his first attempt penning a screenplay as it is Kerb's first attempt as well, and other than a few slow spots in this that made it look as though it lagged a bit, it was solid. Of course having both Redford and Nolte in the lead roles obviously didn't hurt the writers. This was similar to the film, "Wild" in that these hikers met some very interesting and eclectic people on their trek as with "Wild" in a comedic form, so this did add a spark to the story. It wasn't an Academy Award quality film, but certainly was solid and was funny without it stooping to being a banal, stupid and silly comedy, and this made it refreshing.

This film was certainly easy to watch considering the talent on the screen, but just needed a bit more polish in the script writing arena. However if you're into the buddy film concept, the banter in this is first rate and funny.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                Rated: R                                 104mins.