Review of A River Runs Through It (1992) by Chris M — 30 Dec 2008

It's surprising how much I enjoyed this film, considering its subject matter (two sons of a preacher-man who like fly-fishing). Robert Redford directed and narrated this patient look at the hurdles of becoming an adult and comparing paths taken with the rest of the family, based on the memoir of the same name.

Craig Sheffer is decent as the observant older son that chooses college and a pursuit of teaching literature for a living, and Tom Skerrit flawlessly pulls off the required accidental intimidation factor of a father that teaches the Good Book and sets a high reputation nearly impossible for his brood to live up to.

The film's acting credit, though, belongs to Brad Pitt, who often resembles Hooker from The Sting (can't be coincidence) as the loyal yet jealous younger brother with the tendency of making rogue decisions in his personal life since the technique serves him so well with his adored hobby.

The scenery of Montana's mountains are gigantic and gorgeous - the director of photography must have felt like he was in heaven. I wanted the gentle musical score to have a little more pickup to keep the overall product from being completely syrupy, and as great as Redford's voice is to the ears, portions of the narration were unnecessary.

I wish he could have found a way around the light brown photo montages in the beginning to set the film's start-of-the-century style; they looked like "The Andy Griffith Show" stole the opening credits idea from "Cheers.

" All in all, these aspects are only mildly distracting to the story that conveys very well the message of standing upright, headstrong and above while life's stream of difficulty restlessly pushes.

A River Runs Through It is a great watch for the family, especially the families that contain children that aren't children anymore.