A Walk in the Woods 2015

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: After all these years, iconic former golden boys Robert Redford and Nick Nolte share the big screen -- and they're stuck in a middling sitcom. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Tame gags are about all the film has to offer. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: "A Walk in the Woods" is broad as a barn door, with two stars who have minimal chemistry - and there's not much in the way of reflection about mortality. Read more

Matthew Kassel, New York Observer: The real pleasures are not to be found in the sweeping shots of the Great Smoky Mountains but in seeing how Mr. Redford and Mr. Nolte's characters learn to get along. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: It is unexpectedly moving and occasionally delightful to spend time with these titans of cinema as they walk and sometimes wobble, delivering words that become meaningful because they're lucky enough to be spoken by Mr. Redford and Mr. Nolte. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: It's pleasant enough cinematic comfort food, but even so, you may be hungry again soon afterward. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: It's contemptuous of the world in a way that rapidly becomes one-note and tiresome. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau never made a movie called Grumpy Old Men Go Camping. If they had, it surely would look a lot like A Walk in the Woods. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [The film] is for anyone who wants to see two of America's finest screen actors completely humiliate themselves. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's not a difficult picture to watch. All you want from A Walk in the Woods, honestly, is a chance to enjoy a couple of veteran actors. But the book's comic tone hasn't found a comfortable equivalent for the screen. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Nolte has three Oscar acting nominations to his credit, Redford has one; In A Walk in the Woods they show what true cinematic chemistry is all about without appearing to be acting at all. Read more

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: Robert Redford takes a hike, literally, in a genial broad-strokes comedy based on writer Bill Bryson's 1998 account of his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Nothing special cinematically, it still provides a welcome showcase for wonderful star turns by Robert Redford, who also produced, and Nick Nolte as two oldsters who attempt to hike the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: One can't help but imagine what previously attached directors Barry Levinson or Richard Linklater might have done with this material, with their affinity for scenes of drifting talk and hanging out. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: Sure, "A Walk in the Woods" stumbles at times, but it does make for an entertaining, leisurely spent few hours at the movies. All of it goes down charmingly and you'll likely walk out with a smile plastered on your face. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Too much of the breezy humor that made the book a delight is stripped away, replaced with predictable jokes and broad slapstick, sitcom-quality encounters with women and bears and a pushy, grating sentimentality. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Thoughtful, fun, and Redford and Nolte are both in the zone. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "A Walk in the Woods" is a pleasant, perfectly acceptable adaptation that shows you some pretty scenery and lets you enjoy two veteran actors. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: While older audiences will go for it, even viewers who haven't acquired the wisdom of age can learn something. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A Walk in the Woods is pleasant but inconsequential, a passing diversion rather than a worthy cinematic destination. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Redford has said ... he had originally planned the film as a reunion for himself and Paul Newman. It's a poignant reminder, as in this film's best moments, that life passes by too quickly. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The finished product isn't a great movie. But every good actor, and that actor's most loyal fans, deserve their Walk in the Woods. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: There's something here that is warmly entertaining as the stars gripe at each other across the country. These are characters you instantly like and want to succeed as they plod from failure to failure. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: It's light on its feet, even though its geriatric woodsmen are plodding and grunting. Read more

John Semley, Globe and Mail: The nature of this fantasy is boringly feel-good and aspirational. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The two actors carp and quip well together, enough to carry us through a plot with few surprises. Read more

Tricia Olszewski, TheWrap: Decides to go for - nay, strain for - antics. You can hear the brainstorming: What can we have happen to them? Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: A pleasant-enough account of two shambling old geezers taking on the grandeur of nature. Read more

Jim Slotek, Toronto Sun: Robert Redford remains an enigma as the lead character, and the movie would be slower than a Swedish art film without Nolte's inchoate boisterousness. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Redford isn't loose enough to be funny, and his stolidness makes this walk in the woods more like a trudge. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The lax, lame A Walk in the Woods is a road movie without a road, a journey of self-discovery without discovery, and a tale of friendship without any chemistry. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: The book didn't deal in platitudes. It was content to be lightly educational but mostly just entertaining. The movie aspires to be more than that, only to reveal how much less than that it really is. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Nolte's performance elevates Katz to the pantheon of disheveled, dissolute sidekicks that includes Walter Brennan in To Have and Have Not, Walter Huston in The Treasure of Sierra Madre, and Edmond O'Brien in The Wild Bunch. Read more