**Spoiler Alert**
Director: Ken Kwapis/Starring: Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Nick Offerman and Kristen Schaal
Sometimes I think walking movies work better than road movies. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for them. In recent years, The Way and Wild are two movies I've really enjoyed. A film about a journey on foot allows more time for characters and situations to develop and for the possibility of adventure and reflection. Director Ken Kwapis' new film; A Walk in the Woods, adapted from bestselling travel author Bill Bryson book of the same name, has varying measures of drama, comedy and adventure. The film is a light, enjoyable romp; hardly exceptional but fun and pleasing. How persnickety Bill Bryson fans might be about Kwapis' adaptation only time will tell but having read some of his work, I can say I the film is faithful to his sense of humor, which is probably the most critical element of the adaptation. If one can ignore Redford's lack of resemblance to the author, then Bryson's fans may have little to quibble about with this film.
After attending a friend's funeral, writer Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) hatches a plan to walk the daunting Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Though he can hardly explain his reasons for wanting to make the attempt to his wife Catherine (Emma Thompson), who is vehemently opposed to the idea, he forges ahead with plans. Though Catherine can hardly dissuade him, she nevertheless issues a proviso that he be accompanied by a friend. A amusing scene where Bryson listens to messages from those he has invited follows soon after. It is hardly surprising that all emphatically reject his idea; some even cite the discouraging statistics about how only ten percent of those who attempt the walk make it. Catherine does her part to discourage him by submitting data from the internet on grisly stories about murders, maulings and hiker disappearances on the trail.
Bryson, undeterred, resumes his preparations. His inexperience is decidedly conspicuous when he visits a hiking/camping outfitter to supply himself for the hike.
Soon after, Bryson receives a call from a "friend" man named Stephen Katz; who, in his growly, gravelly voice, asks if he can join the trek. Katz explains he learned of Bryson's idea from a mutual friend. When Catherine learns that Katz is the man on the phone, she reminds her husband of the ill-fated hike the two shared in Europe, which ended with Bryson's disdain for his walking companion. Bryson's amusing reply is that he "I started out disliking him but despised him at the end." Without an alternate, Bryson agrees reluctantly to Katz's offer.
Bryson and Catherine arrive at the airport to greet Katz (a raggedly funny Nick Nolte), whose disheveled clothes and beefy frame leave the couple skeptical about his selection as a hiking companion. After awkward greetings, Katz settles in at Bryson's home.
At a family dinner, Katz regales Bryson's family with stories about their misadventures when they walked the Camino de Santiago de Campostela in Spain and France.
In a private conversation Bryson and Katz share, we learn about the latter's alcoholism and the loss of his wife, which he has yet to overcome.
The journey itself, as one might expect, is made colorful by mishaps and the arduous nature of the hike. Watching Katz wheeze and sweat lends much hilarity to the walk, as does a chance meeting with a a garrulous young woman named Mary Ellen (the always quirky Kristen Schaal), who immediately offers critical comments about their choice of equipment. She further irritates Bryson and Katz by mocking their modest walking mileage. Annoyed beyond endurance, the two men manage to escape her by hurrying on the trail though they narrowly miss reuniting with her later, which makes for another comically suspenseful moment.
To escape Mary Ellen, Bryson and Katz decide to hitch a ride, which becomes another ordeal when they discover the young couple in the front seat hardly have their minds on the road.
The discomforts and dangers mount as the men find a trail lodge has no vacancies save for a communal room with bunk beds. Bryson's humorously tetchy exchange with a seasoned hiker shows the bracing wit for which his books are known.
The middle part of the film, where Bryson and Katz check into a motel, is cause for more hi-jinks and even some romance. The motel manager, Jeannie (the lovely and talented Mary Steenburgen) takes a shine to Bryson; making plain her amorous intentions during a chance encounter outside his room. While Bryson, ever true to Catherine, rejects her overtures, Katz manages to seduce a large woman named Beulah in a laundromat. Their assignation ends dangerously when her husband comes to the motel looking for Katz, which prompts a hasty flight from the premises.
All along the trail, Bryson and Katz engage in conversation that reflect the film's themes of mortality, loneliness, marriage, sex and their past as friends. The hike itself is a not-very-subtle journey-as-life metaphor but it doesn't bludgeon the audience with this idea.
Though Bryson and Katz struggle on the trail, moments of otherworldly beauty become serendipitous. A beautiful vista of the Smokey Mountains rewards the two men somewhat for their efforts. Bryson also dazzles Katz with his knowledge of geological history, which he lovingly calls upon when he stops to observe rock formations.
A near-fatal mishap on the trail leads to more reflection and a rescue from two hyper-fit hikers, both of whom Bryson and Katz find irritating. A kind of running gag throughout the film is Katz's insistence, in spite of Bryson's claims to the contrary, that their experiences will make a great book.
A film like A Walk in the Woods might have become tedious if stretched to a protracted running time. It's modest 104 minute length is just right for a film of its type.
The film doesn't traffic in life-affirming, smell-the-roses homilies but it does try to leaven the humor with Bryson and Katz's thoughts about their lives and expectations. Whether the men succeed in their goal of reaching the other end of the trail, whether Katz overcomes his cravings for alcohol and whether Katz and Bryson come to appreciate the other's company I will leave unanswered, though the audience may have little trouble divining plot and subplot outcomes.
I found the casting of Redford and Nolte to be very inspired and hardly obvious. They seem to have onscreen chemistry and their diametrically different body types make for a visually funny contrast. Though I enjoyed Redford as Bryson, it is Nolte who steals the show. I found his oafish, earthily slobby appearance and manner not only endearing but always good for a chuckle. Emma Thompson and Mary Steenburgen have few opportunities to shine but everything in the film and story are peripheral to Bryson and Katz and their journey.
Kwapis' film isn't a profound, poetic meditation but Bryson's books seldom are. What it is a slight but fun trifle; a gambol rather than a 1,000 mile hike. The film is A Walk in the Woods and it succeeds on those very modest terms.
