2025 | PG | 118 mins | Directed by Jon Avnet
Angel Studios is a relatively new studio that has set out to make more wholesome and family-oriented films. They clearly want to set themselves apart from the studios coming out of Hollywood and so far, they have had moderate success. The Last Rodeo is their latest feature film starring Neal McDonough, who seems to be becoming a mainstay for the studio. McDonough also co-writes the movie alongside Derek Presley and director Jon Avnet. Everyone involved clearly has the best intentions when making this movie, but, unfortunately, the execution is truly abysmal.
Neal McDonough plays Joe Wainwright, a former rodeo star who had to retire after a several injuries. He spends his days working on his farm and trying to maintain a relationship with his daughter Sally (Sarah Jones). Joe learns that his grandson Cody has a brain tumor, the same type of tumor that his wife passed away from. Insurance will only cover so much of the surgery, but Joe assures the hospital that they can pay for it. To get enough money to pay for the surgery, Joe agrees to compete in a high stakes bull riding competition where first place gets a large cash prize. With the help of his old friend Charlie (Mykelti Williamson), Joe will stop at nothing to win and save his grandson.
This is a straightforward story that is as predictable as can be. The movie plays everything so safe, so it never really feels like there are any stakes. To make matters worse, this is one of the worst scripts for a movie in quite some time. Not only is everything so telegraphed but the dialogue between characters is completely stilted. Every character seems stiff because of the bad dialogue, and nobody feels like an actual person. With Jon Avnet serving as director and co-writer, most of this falls on him as he is not able to get anything worthwhile out of any of the actors involved.
For a movie that has some talented character actors it is astounding to see them all act as if they have never acted before in their lives. There are moments throughout the movie where it sounds like the actors are reading off cue cards or holding a script in their hands and they are poorly reading through it. Neal McDonough and Mykelti Williamson show flashes of their acting abilities at times, but it never fully comes through. Christopher McDonald is mostly wasted as the organizer of the bull riding competition. Sarah Jones has a few decent moments but ultimately, she is let down by the director and script as well.
It is outrageous that a small movie like this has so many technical issues throughout. There is some bad ADR in several scenes. So many moments where a character is clearly mouthing one thing, but they are saying something completely different. Some scenes have terrible looking green screen, including a truly horrid shot of country singer Leeanne Womack singing the National Anthem. The only scenes that look halfway decent are the bull riding scenes. Unfortunately, there are not enough of those scenes and the movie is left with too many moments that just don't work.
The Last Rodeo is a basic story that has good intentions but ultimately fails in almost every aspect. Bad direction and a poor script led to less than stellar performances from everyone involved. Add in several technical issues throughout and this is just one big misfire.
Grade: D+
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