AN UNFINISHED LIFE — ** 1/2 — Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Morgan Freeman; rated PG-13 (profanity, violence, brief drugs, vulgarity, brief sex).
Frankly, they could have left Jennifer Lopez out of "An Unfinished Life" completely and the film would have been better for it.
Every time this drama focuses on the character played by Lopez, you'll likely find yourself wishing it would focus on others — specifically, those played by Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman.
These two wily and extremely likable big-screen veterans do as much as they possibly can to salvage the film, which is a glorified Lifetime Channel cable movie with a bigger budget and some A-list talent. "Life" is watchable due in no small part to them.
Lopez stars as Jean Gilkyson, a widow who's fleeing an abusive relationship. With her 11-year-old daughter Griff (Becca Gardner) in tow, Jean has turned to the one person who can shelter her — Einar Gilkyson (Redford), her former father-in-law.
Einar has been living on his remote Wyoming ranch, which he runs with Mitch Bradley (Freeman), who hasn't been the same since being mauled by a bear. Needless to say, Einar is not pleased to see Jean and the granddaughter he never knew he had.
But he reluctantly agrees to take the two in, which gives Einar and Griff some much-needed bonding time, while Jean finds employment in a diner run by the sympathetic Nina (Camryn Manheim). However, two other unwelcome visitors also come calling — Jean's ex-boyfriend Gary (Damian Lewis), and the bear that attacked Mitch.
At least this film is better and warmer than director Lasse Hallstrom's frigid, numbing adaptation of "The Shipping Life." (Like that film, this one is based on a well-regarded novel. "An Unfinished Life" author Mark Spragg also co-wrote the screenplay.)
It's rumored that the studio had Hallstrom lop out nearly 20 minutes of footage from his original cut. That probably accounts for the paltry screen time for Josh Lucas and explains why the film does feel a little unfinished.
In fairness to Lopez, she isn't awful. But she really isn't able to hold her own with either Redford or Freeman, who have such a natural onscreen friendship that you'd swear it's genuine. (Here's hoping they do more work together in the future.)
Relative newcomer Gardner doesn't seem daunted by the prospect of working with the two stars, and she has a couple of nice scenes with each of them.
"An Unfinished Life" is rated PG-13 for occasional use of strong profanity (including the so-called "R-rated" curse word) and a few crude slang terms, violence (some domestic, a diner scuffle and an animal attack), brief drug content (morphine use and use of tranquilizers), and a brief, discreet sex scene. Running time: 107 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com