Studio: Lionsgate
Release Date: 10/28/2025
Rating: R
Film Grade: C
The Story: Mandy and young Cal are stuck living with a shady outlaw, Penny Jo dreams of a singing future away from her waitress job, while Lefty is desperate to find a wife to join him on his farm. All of them are brought together over a valuable Native American artifact and those that want to possess it.
My Take: Writer/Director Tony Tost makes his film debut here, after writing and producing a number of TV series, such as Poker Face and Longmire. As such, the movie has that smaller TV feel to it, despite the sweeping vistas of New Mexico, where it was filmed.
Much of that lightweight quality comes from the straightforward plot, lackluster action, and quippy dialog. Some of the lines are written as broad humor, not taking the seriousness of the situation into account. Others are genuinely touching, with much of those coming from the childlike character of Lefty, played by a downhome Paul Walter Hauser. He adds warmth and true tenderness to the part.
All of the performances are engaging, with the cast doing the best they can with the roles. The least developed is Mandy, played by pop singer, Halsey. Styled after Joan Jett, she’s a woman who escaped one terrible background only to land in another. Complicating that, she’s in over her head trying to raise Cal, who thinks he’s the reincarnation of Sitting Bull. While it’s easy to consider her the main character of the film, she’s not given much of an arc and is primarily used to drive the slim plot. Sidney Sweeny plays against type as a stuttering waitress with big ambitions. While she and Lucky make a cute but improbable couple, it’s their sudden and underdeveloped decision that drives the plot in a crazy direction. Had this been fleshed out a little more, it may have been more plausible, but the decision is abrupt and feels out of character for both of them.
A number of themes are included in the story, including the mistreatment of Native Americans and their subsequent search for identity, the evil consequences of a misogynistic patriarchy, and the perils of capitalism. The superficial way these are handled just diminishes the effectiveness of the underlying story, with everything feeling both pat and shallow. It comes off as simplistic pandering.
Any themes are secondary to the action elements of the plot, which are also problematic. There’s an extended gunfight that is sloppily handled. Considering who is best prepared for the conflict compared to who does most of the fighting, the results are both shocking and unbelievable. The final act that settles things is also poorly handled as there’s no indication of what is about to happen, abandoning anything resembling the real world. This all would have been avoidable with a little more work on the script or staging.
Visuals: Shot on film, the picture shows noticeable, but never distracting, amounts of grain, especially during interior shots. Focus ranges from sharp to soft at different times. Contrast is good as are skin tones. Distortion at the edges of the frame stand out in a couple of shots. This is an average-looking film.
Audio: While the disc features an Atmos mix, it’s not particularly good. While it does, barely, pass my bird test, it also uses the tops for things like car engines, which feels off. There’s also some dialog leaking into the tops, such as in a scene at a gas station. The low end isn’t prominent, even during gunfire, lacking dynamic punch.
The score by David Fleming (Superman, The Alto Knights, Hillbilly Elegy, among others) pairs well with the action, adding the right amount of Western-style influences to fit the story. Various country music and rock songs are also thrown in, adding additional character to the interludes. It’s a fitting accompaniment to the movie.
Special Features: There’s a typical short here talking about the genesis of the film and how the story came about. The director also walks the audience through various scenes, adding details to filming process.
- Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Tony Tost
- A Western Fairy Tale: The Making of Americana
- Theatrical Trailer
Final Verdict: We watched this movie with some friends. While three of us thought the film was just average, the fourth gave it a B+, citing the humor as its best feature. While there are some funny lines, I found most of them to be too forced and obvious to be effective. What I did like where the quieter moments with two characters just openly sharing with each other, but those are few and far between. The movie would rather focus on the criminal acts and subsequent consequences, which didn’t feel earned.
What could have been a fun, light adventure or cute love story gets dragged down by unnecessarily heavy themes, an improbable plot, and poorly staged action. Still, the musical score and acting are all well done, helping mitigate the potboiler storyline. Recommended for fans of Hauser or someone looking for a modern take on Westerns, but others may want to consider renting or streaming before purchasing.
Applicable Dialog: “Deep thinking’s overrated.”
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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