Lasse Hallstrom's "An Unfinished Life" has a compelling story, great characters, dialogue so good you want to commit it to memory and a genuine appreciation for life's sadness and saving epiphanies.

Adapted by Mark Spragg and wife Virgina Korus Spragg from his excellent novel, "Life" is a homecoming movie.

Jean Gilkyson (Jennifer Lopez, and don't laugh because she's really good) and her 11-year-old daughter Griff (the winning Becca Gardner) flee Jean's abusive boyfriend and make their way from Iowa to Jean's hometown in Wyoming. Bruised, broke and desperate, Jean throws herself on the mercy of a man who hates her: her rancher father-in-law, Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford).

Einar blames Jean for the death of his only child, Griffin, who died in a car wreck while Jean was driving. He's spent most of the last decade staring at life through the bottom of a whiskey bottle, in the process pushing his wife into the arms of another man. He only cleaned up his act when his best friend and long-time hired hand Mitch (Morgan Freeman) was crippled in a grizzly attack. Now he devotes himself to nursing his hideously-scarred pal.

Jean's arrival is an unwelcome shock for both Einer and young Griff. Neither has known of the other's existence. And while the ailing Mitch is thrilled to have young folks around the gone-to-seed spread, Einer is still stalked by rage and bitterness. He's curt, sarcastic and hostile at being reminded yet again of how much he's lost.

It goes without saying that young Griff and the curmudgeonly Einar will, little by little, work their ways into each other's hearts. And ours. The magic of "An Unfinished Life" lies in the delicate insights with which permeate every aspect of the production.

Among the subplots are Jean's flirtation with the local lawman (Josh Lucas), the quest of her clueless ex (Damien Lewis) to get her back, and especially the fate of the grizzly that mauled Mitch. It's been captured and now is on display in a tacky tourist trap ... a fate that Mitch views as unworthy of the magnificent creature. He's decided to forgive and forget and he expects Einar to mastermind the prison break.

The movie is so rich you can hardly take it all in with one viewing. Of special interest is the relationship between Einar and Mitch, two crusty cowboys who bicker like old married folks (at one point Griff honestly wonders if they're gay) and who share a disarmingly tender physical relationship, since Einer gives Mitch his daily injection of morphine and massages his friend's scarred back.

Spragg wisely retains most of his novel's dialogue, and he has such a flair for the language of the West that you could close your eyes and "An Unfinished Life" still would be a hugely entertaining and moving experience. There's a sort of low-keyed poetry in the way people talk...nothing overtly literary, but an inescapable rhythm to their words. And this film isn't afraid of silence, either. These characters say volumes when they keep their mouths shut and just go about their business.

The casting couldn't be better. Redford should have hung up his pretty-boy leading man jacket years ago and turned to meaty character work. Here he's grizzled and blotchy, angry and ironic in a performance that should finally win him the Oscar.

Mitch could have been written with Freeman in mind. The character doesn't move much, but Freeman's voice is such a supple dramatic instrument that he can express an active inner world while remaining essentially still. He might just win the best supporting actor Oscar two years in a row.

The much-maligned Lopez gives her best work to date. If she's not quite in the same league as her leading men, she certainly does no harm.

And young Miss Gardner is a real find, a child actor who can express both solemnity and youthful enthusiasm without ever slipping into cuteness.

But then under the unforced direction of Hallstrom (he's got such an affinity for this material you forget that he's Swedish) nearly everything in "An Unfinished Life" feels right, from the lived-in wardrobe to the weathered wood of Einar's about-to-collapse barn to his vintage pickup, which has spent so much time baking in the sun that its plastic dashboard looks like a relief map of the canyonlands.

This is why we go to movies - to laugh, cry and become part of the lives of the characters up there on the screen. "An Unfinished Life" is so good that it makes you believe in Hollywood again.