I first read Bill Bryson’s bestselling memoir A Walk in the Woods as a college student, and I laughed until I cried, even though the book was about men in the midst of midlife crises and hiking the Appalachian Trail — two things I knew nothing about. The story of two lovable, unlikely characters battling their way down a winding road is genuinely appealing, no matter what your age and stage.
A Walk in the Woods begins with Bill Bryson enduring a frustrating TV interview and a friend’s sobering funeral, both of which remind him of his age and the fact that he hasn’t written a new book in a while. He decides to beat his funk by tackling the Appalachian Trail from start to finish. He makes a successful trip to REI to gather the necessary gear (always the fun part), but he is much less successful in finding a hiking buddy.
Finally he gets a call from wheezing, gravelly-voiced Katz. He hasn’t seen Katz since they were in their 20s, and Katz doesn’t sound like he can walk very far, much less hike — but Bryson doesn’t have many options. And so the two of them start the 2,000+-mile trail that winds north from Georgia to Maine.
Robert Redford (playing Bill Bryson) and Nick Nolte (playing Katz) star together in the movie, and the choice of actors is perhaps the biggest surprise of the film adaptation of the book. Bill Bryson himself is now 63 and wrote the book 17 years ago, which means that he must have hiked the Appalachian Trail in his 40s. Nolte, meanwhile, is 73, and Redford is 79. “The actors’ ages made the midlife crisis plot less believable,” said moviegoer Elliott. “I wonder if the producer was so glad to get Redford that he didn’t care about his age?” Also Redford feels more aloof than I would expect Bryson to be, although that detachment disappears in some of the more hilarious scenes of the film.
Ultimately, though, the movie works well, balancing a laugh-out-loud comedy of errors (rain, snow, bears, and trails that only go up) with dazzling scenery, a beautiful soundtrack, and life lessons that ring familiar and true. Take a walk in the woods with these two — you won’t regret it!
A Walk in the Woods
Starring: Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson
Run time: 1 hour 44 minutes
Rated: R
See upcoming showtimes for A Walk in the Woods here.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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