An Unfinished Life

A bitter old rancher (Robert Redford) gets an unwelcome visit from his estranged daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez); she’s on the run from an abusive boyfriend and brings along her daughter—the granddaughter the rancher never knew he had. Writers Mark Spragg and Virginia Korus Spragg have come up with the kind of original script (which Mark later turned into a novel) that actors and directors dream about: perceptive, eloquent, poetic and dramatically compelling. It’s a rugged-yet-tender, down-to-earth, lived-in story about family ties, forgiveness and the literal and figurative healing of old wounds. Director Lasse Hallström and the cast (including Morgan Freeman as Redford’s hired hand and Josh Lucas as the local sheriff) respond with great work—in Redford’s and Lopez’s cases, their best ever.