Entertainment

‘The Company You Keep’ review

At 76, Robert Redford is at least a decade too old to play a former 1970s radical on the run from the FBI. But that’s far from the biggest problem with this all-star, self-directed thriller, in which his wanted poster appears to use a still from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.’’

A former member of the Weather Underground wanted for a Michigan bank robbery, Redford’s Nick Sloan has for decades quietly lived under an assumed name and practiced law in upstate New York.

Things begin to unravel when a former comrade (Susan Sarandon) is arrested while en route to surrender for the bank robbery, which resulted in a guard’s death (her character appeared to be modeled on Kathy Boudin, who served 22 years for the 1981 Rockland County robbery of a Brink’s truck with the Black Liberation Army, in which two cops and a guard were killed).

Nick’s cover is blown by a young Albany reporter (Shia LaBeouf) who pieces things together while repeatedly engaging in unethical and illogical behavior, including ignoring orders from his boss (StanleyTucci) and flirting with an FBI agent (Anna Kendrick) who eventually gets removed from the case.

Facing arrest for the long-ago crime, the widowed Nick drops off his young daughter with his brother (Chris Cooper) and sets off on a crosscountry trek.

He’s constantly eluding an FBI dragnet supervised by Terrence Howard, with help from former radicals played by Nick Nolte and Richard Jenkins, among others.

Nick’s goal is a rendezvous with a former girlfriend (Julie Christie), who has spent all these years off the grid engaging in politically oriented illegal activities (currently with Sam Elliott).

It’s not hard to imagine Redford’s erstwhile co-star Jane Fonda being approached for Christie’s role—and rolling her eyeballs at the hokey coincidences in the script by Lem Dobbs (“The Limey’’).

For starters, the key to Nick being cleared may lie with the adopted daughter (Brit Marling) of the retired police chief (Brendan Gleeson) who investigated the original robbery.

No points for guessing who her birth parents are.

There are scattered moments when Redford generates suspense that recalls his better known political thrillers of the 1970s, like “All the President’sMen’’ and “Three Days of the Condor.’’

But LaBeouf is no Dustin Hoffman, to put it mildly.

And the disappointing “The Company You Keep’’ consistently stretches credulity way past the breaking point in its depiction of journalism, police procedure and political activism.

lou.lumenick@nypost.com