Review of The Company You Keep (2012) by Chris K — 06 Aug 2014

As a group of 'weather-underground' extremists long life on the run from the law begins to unfold, we start to hear a collection of mysterious, spaced out and ambiguous stories that are supposed to generate intrigue and interest, but don't do a thing. A slew of A-list actors or previously A-list actors like Robert Redford, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Terence Howard, Stanley Tucci, Anna Kendrick and Sam Elliott flocked to this film for some reason, but what that was is the biggest mystery of the film.

The pacing is droll and slow. That is hands down the biggest problem of the film. I won't even go into the suspension of belief ages of some of the actors. Forty-five minutes into the film and I could care less about any of the over-acting and over-dramatizations. A scene in a truck between Nick Nolte and Redford was reminiscent of a scene from "JFK" as the character begins to remember and tell what they know about the past and it just felt trumped up and overdone. They wanted you to listen and observe with awe, but it just didn't work.

That scene is a fair assessment of the entire film. As much as they want you to care, it is just plain hard to. I don't know if its the pacing of the film or the obviously over-zealous attempt to make you care, but regardless, I didn't.