The Company You Keep 2012

Mary Corliss, TIME Magazine: With a welcome mixture of juice and grit, the movie dramatizes the lingering conundrums of young people in the time of the Vietnam morass. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: This earnest, well-intentioned movie elicits frustration that its story had to be packaged as a conventional, not very suspenseful fugitive thriller with a bogus Hollywood ending. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The disparate elements in The Company You Keep are robustly collated by the keen, well-crafted direction of a master filmmaker at the top of his form. It's only April, but this is one of the best films of 2013. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The film was shot by an excellent cinematographer, Adriano Goldman, though you'd never know it from the lighting, which is as flat as the writing. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You wish the movie were a little snappier, but Redford doesn't do snap; slow down with it, and enjoy the chase. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The result feels like cinematic health food: vaguely good for you but less than delicious. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: The navel-gazing grows obnoxious, especially as the people on screen seem more like archetypes than characters. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Redford is interested in telling stories again, rather than pounding us on the head for our civic and historical sins. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The high celebrity quotient tends to work against the drama, reminding us what a privileged generation this was and how its endless examination of itself in popular culture was part of that privilege. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's best enjoyed as an actors' showcase. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Sarandon's showpiece sequence, in which Sharon, grilled by the reporter while in FBI custody, stands up for her actions, is easily the film's best. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: What gets revealed should rattle, but it doesn't. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Redford the director keeps things moving smoothly, avoiding too many lengthy monologues while still getting the point across ... Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The Company You Keep chews on issues of violence in a muffled way, but restraint is not the quality this story was calling for. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: As an audience, we're forced to admit that the guy we're rooting for could be a sap. This is not a recommended method. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: This is the most depressing movie ever made about radicalism. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Robert Redford makes a welcome return to double-duty as director and lead actor in this clear-eyed drama about a former Weather Underground radical forced to reconcile with the past. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: "The Company You Keep" is a shrewder, more satisfying piece of filmmaking than we've seen from Redford in a while, though not quite in the league with his best behind-the-camera work ... Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The film offers a lot to chew on for boomers -- and for aging punks and indie-rockers -- who may still be wondering whether they made a separate peace with The System or simply gave up the fight. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: This film, with its prickly characters and complicated plot, rips along with continuous tension and power. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Full of issues, and "relevance," but not enough action, or drama. Read more

Joel Arnold, NPR: It's a pleasure to watch, even if the payoff is rather less substantial than the backstory. Read more

Linda Holmes, NPR: By the end, it all seems to have been a lot of noise and running for nothing except the ultimate lesson that if journalists like the people they're reporting on, they owe them the favor of not doing journalism. Ta-da! Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Though consistently engaging, Redford's latest directorial endeavor does feel like a plea. You can almost hear him coaxing us to learn from the past, even as we rush into the future. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: "The Company You Keep'' consistently stretches credulity way past the breaking point in its depiction of journalism, police procedure and political activism. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Directed in steady fashion by Redford, The Company You Keep manages to keep its multiple strands of plot - and the people caught in them - from collapsing in a jumble of confusion. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: "It winds up being less than the sum of its parts." Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Nearly every scene had me asking questions about what just transpired when I should have been absorbing what was happening next. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Drawing skillfully on a first-rate cast, Redford builds a riveting, resonant political thriller that values the complexity of its characters and the intelligence of its audience. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The Company You Keep" is packaged as a political drama, but at heart it's a preachy nostalgia tour of Vietnam-era liberal doctrine. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Redford is an adequate director, and he keeps things moving at a moderate pace, passing up exits to more spectacular vistas or hotter issues. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: You can't help but applaud the effort, even as it falls short. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: A drama that's more than a look at what happened to a generation of socially aware hippies whose new drug of choice is likely Lipitor. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: A thoroughly stodgy exploration of the ghosts of the past that has exceedingly little to say about the Vietnam era, the ethics of violent protest or the standards of what's left of the newspaper business. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: [It] might have been more effective if not filtered through so much graybeard griping. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though it makes a few missteps, it's marked by top-notch performances by a terrific ensemble cast, headed by Redford. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: The pic's colorful, almost-wastefully impressive cast limns a sociologically convincing rogue's gallery of reformed revolutionaries. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Given the finger-wagging suggestion of its title, it's actually no surprise to find that The Company You Keep turns out to be politically chicken-hearted ... Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: At its core, "The Company You Keep" is a good, solid thriller about a fugitive trying to clear his name. But it's a much more interesting movie at the edges. Read more