BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

paul-nicholson So many things in this movie didn't work for me. I've read many of Bill Bryson's books and I get his style and humour. I don't think the director did.The casting, I didn't think Redford was a convincing Bryson, maybe Nolte would have been better cast in the lead. Redford is too refined and clean cut. Then, as Bryson's wife Emma Thompson didn't work for me either, there was no chemistry between them. I suffered the first hour and a half and fell asleep, I really should have quit earlier.

paulijcalderon It's just Bob Redford and Nick Nolte on a trip, walking in the woods. That's pretty much it. I thought it was amusing and had some nice moments.I liked the landscapes the choose for the film. You get a little feeling that you kind of wanna take a hike there yourself. I've been on a lot of hikes before when I was younger. I was reminded of that while watching this. The two main characters were all right. They had some good banters and chemistry. Redford and Nolte seemed to have had a lot of fun making this. It didn't feel like something done for the money.Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. The music is relaxing and it worked well with some of the montage scenes. So, yes. It is just a neat down to earth little movie about some friends walking in the woods. I thought it was all right.

mark.waltz The first shot of Robert Redford in this film is rather surprising; the 80 year old glamour '70s boy looks like he should be darkening his hair and play Ronald Reagan after he left the White House. Yes, those first few moments are very jarring, especially when it is established that he is married to Emma Thompson. A supposedly popular expert on travel, he wants to hike the entire Appalation trail (from Georgia to Maine) and ends up bringing along (reluctantly at first) the out of shape, drunken, raspy voiced Nick Nolte. Along the way, they meet a bunch of mostly annoying people, deal with all sorts of inclimate weather and a series of wacky, unbelievable situations that would make Hope and Crosby blush.So the idea of traveling down the Appalations or the continental divide has crossed my mind (and passed me by), but at least here, I get to see what part of the east coast trail looks like. I don't know that I'd be pleased dealing with braggarts claiming that their style of hiking was better than mine. I certainly would not be allowing someone like Kirsten Schaal infiltrate on my vacation for more than 5 minutes. I could have done without big bad Bertha who asks Nolte to help her untangle her parties that super glue couldn't repair. I could have done with more of the still beautiful Mary Steenburgen, wasted in a five minute space. Thompson, too, underused and obviously not believable as the aged Redford's mate.This is supposedly based upon a true story of younger characters, and after getting used to Redford's flabby face skin and Nolte's whiskey soaked voice, I still had the issue of them being just far too miscast. What is on screen are not the lovers of two of Barbra Streisand's greatest romantic films but what remains of them, two leading men far past their prime and trying to be Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey even past their prime. It is not a dignified look at the desire to stay young, with them pretty much acting like fools, especially when Redford repeats a similar scene from one of his first hits that doesn't hwbr the impact more than 40 years later.

jhsteel I was rather baffled at the start because the film's premise was that Bill Bryson had never hiked the Appalacian Trail, while I had read the book about it many years ago. In the film, an elderly version of Bryson meets up with his old friend Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte, very good), I found myself wondering whether my memory was defective, because he must have been much younger in reality, but then I realised that Robert Redford wanted to make the book into a film, it had taken him decades to achieve this and his own participation was essential. Given Redford's age, the poetic licence had to be stretched and the friends were now old men. It still works, however.I enjoyed it very much and it works, as a gentle entertainment with a not too demanding plot. It bends the truth in many ways, but no matter. I decided to take it at face value and at this level, it worked. I will now go back and read the book again, which is well worth doing.