REVIEW: The Company You Keep

MOVIE
The Company You Keep

CAST
Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf

RATING
R

RELEASE
April 5, 2013 (NY/LA)

DIRECTOR
Robert Redford

STUDIO
Sony Pictures Classics

RUNNING TIME
2 hours 5 minutes





STARS
***







REVIEW:

Coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival is the new Robert Redford film 'The Company You Keep.'  Here is a movie that boasts a huge cast, including the likes of Shia LaBeouf, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, and many others.  This film is also directed by and stars Robert Redford, whose last directorial effort 'The Conspirator' was one of the better movies from early 2011.  The trailer for the movie didn't do much for me, but I was interested in it due to the huge talent that was involved.  After seeing the movie, I can say that, while a little too long for me, this was overall a very interesting movie. I doubt that this is something that a mainstream audience would be interested in going to see, but those who can put their head into this over 2 hour drama/thriller may actually enjoy it and get invested.

SYNOPSIS: (Courtesy of Fandango.com)
A single father's upper-middle class life as a lawyer in upstate New York is shattered when his past as a radical activist member of the Weather Underground is revealed and he is accused of having been the triggerman at a deadly bank robbery years before. Forced to go on the lam, the man evades law enforcement and encounters a series of drug dealers, bomb-planting radicals turned leftist academics, Vietnam vets, FBI agents and Republicans who collectively ponder the legacy of the '60s while searching for the one woman who can prove his innocence.

Probably the best and only thing to talk about with this film is the acting.  Robert Redford was enjoyable, but not overall great or moving exactly.  Shia LaBeouf gave a very impressive performance and possibly the best performance of his career thus far as the jockey reporter who exposes Redford's character for his true identity.  Stanley Tucci, Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, and Brit Marling are among the A-list supporting cast who all give very solid performances.  In fact, the best scenes of the movie took place between LaBeouf and Marling, due to their great chemistry on screen.  All of the acting overall was good, but no stand out performances are to be found among the group of A-listers who are in this movie.

All that can be said about this movie is that it is a well-acted film.  The script is a little boring and convoluted at times, which took me out of the movie personally.  The 2 hour length could have been cut down by 20 minutes so the time would have just flied by.  Instead, I was squirming a little and waiting for the movie to be over.  Plus, I kept wondering throughout the film "Would the FBI really be on this guy's case 30 years after one guy was murdered?" and "Who really cares about a woman 30 years after she partook in a bank robbery/one man murder?"  Putting those flaws aside, this is a great film to see if you're looking for well-acted performances by some of Hollywood's biggest names.  Now a lot of these names are only in the movie for about 5 minutes, but they were all solid for the roles they played.  'The Company You Keep' overall is an interesting, but convoluted and long drama with some good performances and a decent enough script.