The Company You Keep

Directed by its star, Robert Redford, The Company You Keep is an engaging cat-and-mouse story that attempts to discuss great truths about political activism, commitment, principles, and maturity, but is ultimately undone by script weaknesses. Some of them are cowardly, others are simply mathematical errors.

The film begins with a housewife, Susan Sarandon, being arrested by the FBI. Turns out she's a long-time fugitive, one of the Weather Underground, a radical group that operated in the '60s and early '70s. She had wanted to turn herself in, but was caught after the phone was tapped of an accomplice, who approaches a lawyer, Redford, to represent her.

This sets a young reporter, Shia LaBoeuf, after Redford, who is in reality another of the Underground living under a false identity, wanted for killing a bank guard during a robbery. Redford has a young daughter, whom he places with his brother, while he runs. LaBoeuf and the FBI try to track him down, while Redford seeks another of the group who can clear his name.

I've always enjoyed films about people eluding capture, and this one is fun, with Redford one step ahead of the FBI. But ultimately it's all cotton candy, no meat, as the film has some big holes in it. One of them is cosmetic, but is vexing to me. Why do they keep referring to events as "thirty years ago"? If the film is set now, the events would be 40 years ago. Is everyone that bad at math? I tried to figure out if the film was set in the late '90s, but nothing indicates that (Sarandon is arrested at an Esso station, and I thought they went out in the '70s, but gas is $3.84 a gallon) and modern gadgets such as laptops and smartphones are used with impunity. There's also the extremely modern angle of newspapers being in financial trouble.

The other problem is a cop out, and looms larger. Redford, it turns out, is trying to clear his name because he wasn't at the bank that day, and is innocent. So he was a good radical and didn't really hurt anybody. Sarandon makes a jailhouse speech that she would do it all over again, which disgusts the FBI but at least gives the film some balls, but then Redford makes a big speech at the end about he gave up the cause because he grew up. It reminds me of a film starring Robert De Niro called Guilty by Suspicion, set in the McCarthy era, in which De Niro was falsely accused of being a communist.

This film had no opening credits so it was fun to see the parade of stars pop up. Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick, Terrence Howard, Julie Christie, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Jenkins--every ten minutes or so, another pleasant moment of recognition. For the fans of indie films, Brit Marling makes a key appearance. Redford obviously has a lot of pull among actors to be in his films, too bad there wasn't a better script.