My near total exasperation at the entire Hollywood effort for 2005 almost caused me to give AN UNFINISHED LIFE a miss - after all, if a billion(s)-dollar film industry can only produce two or three decent films a year - why bother with going to watch what looked like just more of the same mediocrity? Well, two of the reasons I changed my mind were; Morgan Freeman, who rarely puts in a mediocre performance, and Robert Redford, who -at least in the past- had turned in some great performances. I held no great hopes for Jennifer Lopez, who has only turned in mediocre performances previously - I had no great expectations.
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My second great concern was that the previews gave every indication that it would be yet another overly-dreary "chick flick" which would inundate us with what we already know about family values through a woman's eyes. (The best way to define a "chick flick" is it is indistinguishable from a soap opera episode, except longer....) But I was pleasantly surprised - there were no weak performances - including Jennifer Lopez's, nor was AN UNFINISHED LIFE another substandard "chick flick".
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