A Walk in the Woods (movie review)

As background, I read Bill Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods' about 20 years ago and have walked about 200 miles of the Appalachian Trail. So, I went into the movie A Walk in the Woods knowing a thing or two about the subject.

Both the book and movie are about a couple guys, Bill Bryson and his friend known as Katz, who endeavor to hike the entire Appalachian trail in one hiking season, which is about 6-7 months. In both the two men are much too out of shape when they started it and had little idea what they were in for. In both Bryson is seen as rather wealthy and they get off the trail quite a bit to stay in motels and eat in restaurants, which is not the way the trail is typically hiked. In both there is an incident of running into a know-it-all woman who they try to ditch and then feel guilty (one of them at least) about it and go to look for her.

Let me say that otherwise, don't go into the movie expecting the book. For one thing, the characters are about 30 years older in the movie. The also generally seem to be hiking in good weather and having deep discussions, in particular why they are hiking the trail. In the book they in cold rainy weather much of them and seem to do all their talking complaining.

Much like the movie Wild, I have a big complaint with how clean all the actors were. Everybody, in both movies, looked like they were sporting brand new gear with a fresh haircut and shave. In reality, from having hiked the 200 miles with a lot of thru-hikers, they are all filthy, wearing ragged clothing, and the men are all in desperate need of a shave. Also, you could tell by the way the actors were carrying the packs, that they probably were filled with bubble wrap.

To conclude, I was pretty disappointed with the movie. I knew I probably would be walking in. However, doing the AT is still on my bucket list and I knew it would get talked about a lot on the trail. In fact, I bet there will be a ton of complaining about both the movie and the spike in demand it causes. Maybe it is selfish to want to keep the trail as much of a secret as possible, but call me selfish then.

On a good note, the acting was good and so was the way it was shot. There were some funny scenes too and I liked somewhat the story line of the repairing the strained friendship between the two men. So, it wasn't entirely bad. Those not familiar with the book or trail I'm sure will like it more than I did.

All things considered, I give it a 3 on the 0 to 5 scale. What's your review on the same scale?

Considering Redford is 79 and looks 85, and
Nolte is 74 and looks 80, I can give a review
without seeing it. These guys get winded
walking to the bathroom at home. Here's
a medium review, there are some really
bad ones out there.

"So much potential, but such a low bar. I'm not used to seeing Robert Redford step into such shallow roles. He could not save this part. The biggest problem was the script was, it failed to gather any sense of a cohesive story.
The stakes were never raised, the characters didn't grow, nor did I care about either of their journeys. A few corny laughs but always low hanging fruit.
If you want to see a movie about a walk, may I recommend Reese Witherspoon in "Wild." At least we saw the difficulty of her trek. I felt like these guys shot in front of a green screen. "

It gets 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not
great. Here's the final comment from a
middle of the road reviewer:

"A Walk in the Woods is pleasant but inconsequential, a passing diversion rather than a worthy cinematic destination."