AN UNFINISHED LIFE
The title refers to just about every character in this movie. Einar stopped living the day his only son died, a decade earlier. He blames Jean for the death. Einar's wife couldn't take it after a while. She left, too.
He's the haunted shell of a man and would be dead for real if it weren't for his ranch hand Mitch Bradley (Morgan Freeman) who, by the way, is dying for real. Mitch got mauled by a grizzly a year earlier and lives in a world of poorly healed scars and pain. Einar takes care of Mitch and loses to him in cards with regularity. Real cowboy love.
After her husband died, Jean went through a string of abusive boyfriends. The last one smacked her up good. That's why she's now standing in the barnyard of Einar's ranch in Godforsaken Wyoming, with an arm cradled around her 10-year-old daughter Griff (Becca Gardner).
So, you see, Jean stopped living, too. And Griff (named for her daddy, Einar's son) has never really had a chance to live.
The only one still living life to the fullest is the bear. Until he's captured and stuck in a cheesy roadside animal attraction where people pay $5 to see the fearsome marauder. That happens on the same day that Jean and Griff show up at Einar's place looking for refuge.
The bear, you see, is a metaphor.
Everyone's got a bear locked up inside them that's got to be set free - at least by the end of this movie. I'm thinking: This could, be at last, the seeds of a worthy successor to the great TV series, "Northern Exposure."
OK, it is perhaps too heavy-handed and obvious but, jeez, you've got Redford and Freeman playing aging cowboys and Lopez contributing some inspired acting and a precocious Becca Gardner cracking the scaly walls of your heart - you've got to find a little love for this film.
Lopez and Redford do the wary dance of commonly injured adversaries. Self-loathing may have lead her into a half-dozen crummy relationships but she's not going to take any (bleep) from Einar.
After Einar gets over the fact that he has a granddaughter - who happens to look and act like his son - he begrudgingly allows them to stay for a while. Even as feelings long buried by alcohol and anger begin to surface.
The bears have got to be set free - or die - and it isn't going to be easy.
"An Unfinished Life" also features Josh Lucas as the local sheriff and a single guy (lucky Jean) and Camryn Manheim as the big-hearted cafe owner who gives Jean a job and the benefit of her own painful life experiences.
The DVD includes a commentary track, a making-of feature and a feature on Bart the bear and his trainer who obviously never saw the documentary "Grizzly" or heard of Siegfried & Roy. The guy plays with this bear like it was a golden retriever.
ALSO THIS WEEK
"The Greatest Game Ever Played" (Disney, 3 stars) So the debate this week with my father is over the changing of the family name from Haughins to Hawkins. He says it was a clerical error five generations back that just stuck. I recall that Irish immigrants were despised and the name was anglicized to get a job as a stonecutter.
This movie bolsters my contention.
The story, based on real events, surrounds the 1913 U.S. Open which distilled down to a fierce duel between the legendary English golfer Harry Vardon (Stephen Dillane) and the 21-year-old amateur immigrant's son Francis Ouimet (Shia LaBeouf) at a Boston country club that wouldn't ever admit either man as a member.
Vardon came from simple labor stock and tried to crack into English society his entire life - even though he might of been twice the gentleman as those who disdained his desire to join their clubs. Golf pros back then were viewed as the hired help.
Ouimet was looked down upon by the upper class until he successfully defended American honor against English would-be usurpers. Success or money, either one still gets you into the club - but that isn't what this movie is about. This is about Ouimet's struggles to overcome his father's objections to "playing" a game and snob society's rejections - oh, and it's about his uncanny ability to hit the heck out of a golf ball with pinpoint accuracy.
The Open duel between Vardon and Ouimet almost makes golf an exciting sport to watch, thanks to some nifty camera angles, editing and computer effects. The movie lands in the rough however in the way it characterizes whole groups of people: The English are haughty, vain and obnoxious. Their American country club counterparts are the same - effete snobs the whole bunch of them.
Working stiffs like Ouimet, Vardon and their fellow golfers and caddies are noble people. It's a little much. But still, a terrific sports-conquer-all story on a par with "Rudy," "Remember the Titans," "Glory Road" and "The Rookie."
The DVD has a terrific TV special from 1963 in which sports announcer Fred Cusick interviews Ouimet on the 50th anniversary of his victory. They walk the greens of the very course on which the open was played. Other features explore the story of the two golfers and look behind the scenes at the making of the movie. Director Bill Paxton provides a commentary track.
"Fun with Dick and Jane" (Sony, 2 stars) Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni star in this remake of the 1977 comedy as a hard-working suburban couple who resort to robbery to make ends meet when times get tough. The bad guy this time around is Big Business, which is crushing the American Dream. Oh, not tonight Jim, I have a headache.
"Deep Blue" (Buena Vista, 2 1/2 stars) You remember that penguin thing that everyone went to theaters to watch? This isn't it. Not exactly. Even though it has terribly cute penguins on the box cover. "Deep Blue" is actually about the vivid world beneath the surface - some very very deeply beneath the surface.
Also this week, two to scare the bejezus out of you: "The Dark" and "Wolf Creek." And one to beguile you with magic, Cirque du Soleil's "Corteo" which actually opens its U.S. tour in late April.
FROM THE VAULTS
"The Laurel and Hardy Gift Set" (Fox) Three-disc set includes the titles "Big Noise," "Great Guns" and "Jitterbugs." Autobiographer Randy Skretvedt provides commentary tracks.
"Mission: Impossible" (Paramount) A 10th anniversary edition, designed to prime the pump for "MI:III" even includes a free ticket to the sequel (which, ironically, has a face value that is more than half the list price for this extras-laden set.)
"Pooh's Grand Adventure - The Search for Christopher Robin" (Disney) Out of the vaults after nine years, this animated feature has been digitally remastered and plays on DVD for the first time.
IT CAME FROM TV
Out this week: The third season of "The Bob Newhart Show" and season five of "In Living Color."
"The Merv Griffin Show" (Alpha Home Entertainment, 3 discs) The ever-congenial talk show host has collected interviews with "40 of the most interesting people of our time." Griffin, one-time sub for Jack Parr on the "Tonight Show" got his own gig in 1962. He went on host 55,000 shows - not to mention create "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune." Here he interviews the likes of John Wayne, Sophia Loren, Tom Cruise, Grace Kelly, Billy Crystal, Robert F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan and Totie Fields.
DVD RATINGS
4 stars: Don't miss: rent it/buy it
3 stars: Worth the risk: rent it
2 stars: On the tipping point: if nothing else is available
1 star: Don't bother: wait until it's in the $1 bin
© Copley News Service
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