Movie Review: A Walk in the Woods

I had a choice this week of watching a horror movie with my brother or watching a movie with my cool Aunt. I chose my Aunt and so now I get to review the movie A Walk in the Woods which is a comedy/adventure type movie that's based off of the book, also titled A Walk in the Woods. Maybe next time I can review a scary movie. But for now, enjoy the review on A Walk in the Woods

The movie begins with Bill Bryson (played by Robert Redford) in an interview on TV, talking about the books that he wrote while on his travels around the world. After the interview, Bryson and his wife, Catherine Bryson, (played by Emma Thompson) go to a funeral in which Bryson says something that probably made the situation a little more awkward (which you will see in the trailer below). Afterwards, they go home and Bryson says to Catherine that he's going to go on a walk. He comes across a sign for the Appalachian Trail and, in his mini life crisis, decides that he is going to hike it.

At night, Bryson is setting up a tent in his backyard when he is interrupted by Catherine. She asks him what he's doing, and Bryson explains that it's his pup tent that he took on all his travels. The tent collapses, and Catherine says that it is the perfect place for him to sleep that night. The next day, he looks up all the info and Catherine makes him go on a hunt to find a friend to go with him. After a long search he ends up with Stephen Katz, (played by Nick Nolte) and this is the start to many funny events. 

This movie is filled with highly acclaimed actors with a string of awards and nominations, so I expected great things from them. They did not disappoint. The acting was great and really brought the characters to life. I almost felt like I was going on this adventure with them. Paul Newman was supposed to play Katz, but unfortunately he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. However, Nick Nolte was a great second choice for Katz and his personal brand of crazy really made me enjoy this movie a lot more. 

The story was good but I will say it moved a little slow at first. It does have a purpose to moving slow in the beginning; to show why Bryson would attempt to take on this challenge. It had a great climax and really good resolve to the whole event. I liked the personal conflict between the two main characters that got better as it went on, creating interest and keeping a great pace to the rest of the movie. I would tell you my favorite part of the movie, but it would be too revealing.

Overall I would rate this movie 8.1/10 for great acting and story, and for some good laughs as well. I would have rated it higher, but there was a bit of foul language in the movie.