No peace, no love, misunderstanding

Judging by just how many famous people appear in Robert Redford’s latest directing effort, we can be certain of one thing: Famous people really, really want to be directed by him.

Aside from Redford, there’s Susan Sarandon, Brendan Gleeson, Stanley Tucci, Sam Elliot, Richard Jenkins, Shia LaBeouf, Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick and Terrence Howard. And then there’s Julie Christie, possibly the most famous person to almost quit a promising film career.

So what are they doing here? It has to be Redford’s sway, because lemme tell ya, Lem Dobbs’ screenplay ain’t so hot. The Company You Keep is sort of modeled on the Weather Underground, the radical offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society, and the mayhem with which they were involved in the 1970s. But instead of dealing with something interesting, like, say, radicalism and politics and leftist causes and some of the violence that resulted, the movie is a sort-of weepie about fathers and daughters.

That is, it would be a weepie if we were with any of these people long enough to care about them. But like all Redford-directed movies in which he acts, this one falls short. And Shia LaBeouf, as a reporter who inexplicably figures out things no one else ever has, remains annoying. 

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
Directed by Robert Redford
With Redford, Shia LaBeouf and Julie Christie
UA DeVargas 6
120 min.
R