“ Every secret takes on a life of its own”, reads the tagline for An Unfinished Life. Perhaps we should have been let in on the secret that this was an unfulfilling, uninspiring movie. It is a sad day for cinema when you have Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman on the screen together and at best a movie turns out be a bit hollow. To make matters worse, this supposedly great secret was not that big at all and apparently not very clandestine as everyone in town already knows.

Jean (Jennifer) and her daughter Griff (Becca) show up on the doorstep of Jean’s father-in-law, Einar (Robert) in a small Wyoming town. Einar is not happy to see Jean because he blames her for his son’s death, which occurred over a decade earlier. Jean does not want to be there because she doesn’t like Einar either and carries guilt about the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death. Griff is just confused because she did not even know that she had a living grandfather. Watching all of this from his cabin and giving out unsolicited advice is Mitch (Morgan), Einar’s trusted friend and former farmhand who was mauled by a bear a year before.

Everybody is a mess. Einar has failed to get over his son’s death and his bitterness is slowing killing him and threatens to keep his granddaughter at arm’s length. Jean has allowed her guilt to manifest into low self-esteem, which explains Gary (Damian), the abusive ex-boyfriend who has shown up in town and is determined to get Jean back. Mitch cannot get through a day without morphine. Griff feels a little neglected and is tired of Jean acting selfishly, the most recent example being Jean’s affair with the town sheriff, Crane (Josh). Even the bear that mauled Mitch and is now in captivity is having some emotional issues.