Gire: Redford, Nolte team up for witty 'Walk'
"A Walk in the Woods" puts two old guys on a quest to hike the 2,118-mile Appalachian Trail, an adventure that lapses into a character-driven sitcom of Homer's "The Odyssey," complete with sirens, ogres, traps and newfound wisdom.
Ken Kwapis' comedy - compactly adapted by Rick Kerb and Bill Holderman from Bill Bryson's 1998 memoir - opens with an idiotically pompous Boston TV host interviewing travel writer Bill Bryson (producer Robert Redford), who rolls with the punches while rolling his eyes.
Next up, Bryson and his wife Catherine (Emma Thompson, pumping her character with more personality than written) attend a funeral where the author commits one social faux pas after another.
When Bryson decides he must take on the Appalachian Trail, his wife throws a hissy fit. But she recognizes her husband's stubborn nature, so she makes one stipulation: He cannot go alone.
Cue the montage of phone calls to friends, who say he's crazy, hang up on him, or can't even walk anymore.
Then, Stephen Katz, an old buddy Bryson hasn't seen for 40 years, calls. He wants to come, even though he owes the writer $600.
Nick Nolte plays Katz with his hat crushed on his head. Overweight, he shambles along like an extra in "The Night of the Living Dead." His baggy pants and plaid shirt hang on him like drapes. His face glows beet-red and his voice - a mix of gravel, sandpaper and nail files - sounds almost possessed.
After visiting a sports store (highlighted by Nick Offerman's condescending sales clerk), the pair sets out on Bill and Katz's excellent adventure, a lighthearted, surprisingly moving experience crackling with witty exchanges.
(Katz says his women must have two things: a heart beat and intact limbs. Bryson says, "I see you've raised your standards!")
Bryson and Katz meet a menagerie of humanity: a know-it-all motormouth (Kristen Schaal), a temptingly attractive hotel manager (Mary Steenburgen), a rampaging jealous husband (John Kap), his seductively portly wife (Susan McPhail), plus young hikers willing to help old guys.
"I hate them!" Bryson snaps.
The narrative gets a gentle push from Nathan Larson's economic score, accented by harmonica and guitar, complemented by John Bailey's postcard cinematography.
Bryson does slip in a few environmental talking points about the vanishing trees, yet, they are so organic to Redford's character they sound nothing like lectures.
Redford spent the last 10 years or so getting "A Walk in the Woods" produced. Now he's 79 playing a character originally 44 years old. With Nolte, 74, Redford finds a perfect foil for his socially inept intellectual, no matter the age.
"How do you know everything?" Katz asks his friend.
"I read books," Bryson replies. "They're like TV for smart people."
“A Walk in the Woods”
★ ★ ★
Starring: Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen
Directed by: Ken Kwapis
Other: A Broad Green Pictures release. Rated R for language, sexual references. 98 minutes