The Clearing

It's not a good sign when a Robert Redford movie doesn't generate excitement at his own film festival, but that's exactly what happened with The Clearing at Sundance. And after sitting through this elderly, mid-afternoon nap of a film, it's apparent why. When a wealthy but bored executive (Redford) is kidnapped by a disgruntled former employee (Willem Dafoe), we prepare for the action to mount as his wife (Helen Mirren) and kids try everything to get him back. Instead, scenes flip-flop between the increasingly fretting family in their living room (boring) and the kidnapper and his victim hiking through the woods with nothing to talk about but their families (much more boring). At home, the FBI's relentless investigation tactics test the family's willingness to cooperate; in the woods, the duo switches between trying to kill time and each other—meanwhile, we grapple with the thought of killing ourselves. The veteran lineup of Redford, Dafoe, and Mirren yields professional efforts all around, but without any action or energy to speak of, this is one ransom that would best go unpaid.