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Earlier this month, I favorably reviewed F1: The Movie, the story of an aging has-been Formula 1 Driver jumping back into the driver's seat for one last shot at glory and to help a younger aspiring driver find his groove. Today, I am reviewing another film with a similar premise, but it isn't as interesting, entertaining, or polished as the Brad Pitt-led gem, which I still highly recommend you see. Instead of a well-crafted and nuanced narrative about sportsmanship, craftsmanship, and friendship, The Last Rodeo presents an overtly cheesy narrative, soap-opera-level performances with one-dimensional characters, and no overarching theme worth investing in. While a handful of parts are admirable, the rest of the film falls short of expectations, failing to reach the 8-second mark (the required time to remain on the bull). There is nothing but pain with this film.
The story follows a former Rodeo bull-riding champion named Joe (Neal McDonough), who is enjoying his retirement, mostly teaching his grandson the ropes of the Rodeo (that is, when his grandson isn't playing Baseball). One day, during a game, Joe's grandson accidentally gets hit in the head with a speedball a bit too hard and develops a brain tumor that needs to be operated on ASAP. With medical insurance only covering half the cost, Joe finds himself needing to raise at least $250,000 for his grandson's surgery. As fate would have it, there is a championship bull-riding competition happening in less than a week with a cash prize of nearly a million dollars, and Joe decides to participate and win for his grandson. Complicating matters further is the reason Joe had to retire in the first place (a hit in the head from a bull that nearly broke his neck), along with his age and time away from the Rodeo. Joe has to hope that he can hold out long enough to raise the money needed to save his grandson's life.
This might have been a compelling story were it not for everything surrounding it being dull, half-hearted, and forced to the point of disingenuousness! Most of the scenes are too dialogue-heavy (with nothing nuanced or interesting being discussed other than repetitive frustrations that amount to whining). No one has a satisfying character arc or personal stake in the story other than helping to pay for the boy's surgery, which, as noble a goal as it is, isn't enough to drive an entire narrative, not to mention the insufficient amount of time developing the boy's character, thereby providing little reason to care.
And then there's the underlying religious themes, which I didn't see coming until about halfway through the film. Admittedly, the fact that the studio behind this film was called Angel Studios should have been a clue. While I am not opposed to, for lack of a better phrase, spiritually related ideas in movies or any other media, they are best utilized as individual character aspects that don't seep their way into the overall narrative or the dominant theme of the story unless it is warranted. Case in point: David's Jewish heritage in the classic film Independence Day isn't brought up or utilized in any meaningful way until a specific moment in the story, it was called for based on the individual character; not to mention it didn't needlessly and aggressively insert itself into the story because it wasn't relevant to the overall narrative.
To quote George Carlin, "Religion is like a lift in your shoe: if you need it, okay, just don't make me wear your shoes if I don't want them."
The Last Rodeo is a slog of a film! It fails in too many areas and clunkily tries to compensate for it all by waving the "faith-based" flag as though that automatically forgives all of its shortcomings (it does not and never should, nor should the flag-waving of any sub-genre for that matter). If this movie is still playing in any theater near you, please skip it and go see F1: The Movie or the new Superman instead, I implore you! This movie is not worth the price of admission, nor the overinflated rental price.
Forget about this one entirely.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
Ditto!
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