Review: Cry Macho

Set in 1980, Clint Eastwood plays a retired rodeo star/horse trainer recruited by his former boss (Dwight Yoakam) to go to Mexico and bring back his teenage son (an OK Eduardo Minett). Eastwood owes him a favour from way back, you see. The kid was abandoned by Yoakam years ago, and is now in the custody of his mother (Fernanda Urrejola, not so great), who doesn’t seem any more of a fit/interested parent. Eventually the old man gets to the kid, who is initially a very reluctant rescue. The boy also insists on taking his fighting rooster called Macho along for the ride. On the road, the crusty old man and cagey young man form a kind of bond as the former realises the latter is just in need of parental guidance. Meanwhile, mum (who hasn’t one maternal bone in her body) sends some goons out to nab the kid back, and Eastwood strikes up a relationship of sorts with a local waitress (Natalia Traven, who is not bad at all).

 

A pretty perfect Clint Eastwood performance is the highlight of this otherwise fairly clichéd road movie from 2021. He’s terrific, and perfectly suited to this rodeo guy character and that whole world, but he’s the whole show. The director-star, along with writers Nick Schenk (Eastwood’s “Gran Torino”) and late novelist N. Richard Nash (who scripted the film version of “Porgy and Bess”) give us a nice, gentle, old-fashioned…and occasionally rather boring film. The story just didn’t do it for me, in fact at times it reminded me of Eastwood’s even more ordinary “The Mule” (also written by Mr. Schenk). The road movie subgenre is not a favourite of mine, I have to say. I’m not surprised that Nash’s original screenplay (updated by Schenk) was written in the 70s – as was Nash’s novel – it definitely seems outdated and old hat to me. I’m also not sure what I felt about the ending nor how I was meant to feel about it, it's…odd and unsatisfying. The supporting performances aren’t as bad as they seemed from the trailer, but the only standout beyond Eastwood is Dwight Yoakam, who makes for an amusingly unscrupulous shithead as Eastwood’s former boss.

 

Director-star Clint Eastwood (“White Hunter, Black Heart”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Gran Torino”) deserves admiration for still working on both sides of the camera in his 90s, and gives a terrific performance here. He clearly knows what roles fit him like a glove, though admittedly it seems his character here is likely meant to be in his late 60s at most, not his early 90s. Unfortunately his performance is at the service of a thoroughly worn-out, sometimes dull story that the director rather surprisingly gives a syrupy, sentimental treatment of. Stunning cinematography by Ben Davis (“Wrath of the Titans”) is the other highlight. Not bad, but without Eastwood’s performance it probably would be.

 

Rating: C+

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