The Company You Keep
Directed by: Robert Redford Starring: Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Susan Sarandon Rating: R Release Date: April 5, 2013
Trailer Score: 6/10
Thoughts by TSR: Robert Redford's The Company You Keep looks perfectly fine. No more, no less (even though the score over the last part gives its all to add an undeserved importance). The trailer has one or two moments that I really like – one of them being Redford remorsefully saying, "See ya soon," to his young daughter – but little else gets me especially excited. Other than the moment I just mentioned, the Redford side of things looks like a fairly by the numbers man on the run/facing his past story. The other part – Shia LaBeouf, Bespectacled Investigative Journalist – looks awfully generic as well. I will say that I like the moment where he repeats, "You don't know what I'm going to ask you yet," to Redford. These standout moments are few and far between, though, and we're left with a perfectly average trailer for a film I'm almost guaranteed to see.
And the reason for that is the incredible cast that Redford has assembled. Redford and LaBeouf, the two at the story's center, are both fine, but it's the supporting players who will probably rope me into checking this out. One of the best things the trailer does is show the cast list after the title. Richard Jenkins, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper, Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Anna Kendrick, Brit Marling, Sam Elliott's mustache. These are the type of names that get me excited for any project, so to have them all together is likely too much to pass up. If this trailer reflects the quality of The Company You Keep, it should be a passable way to spend a couple hours. That isn't going to stop me from hoping for more.