moonspinner55 Review of All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses (2000)

Newcomers trying for old-style Hollywood feel, and failing

[3/10 · 15 February 2002]

From Cormac McCarthy's novel about young man in 1949 Texas leaving the family ranch for a life in Mexico, and winding up in hot water. Despite mystical undermining (which, presumably, is what director/co-producer Billy Bob Thornton brought to the table), film has a distracting 'formula' feel: two-parts western, one-part forbidden romance, and one-part prison picture. None of it gels, simply because the screenwriter (Ted Tally, of all people) and Thornton are trying for the kind of heavy, romantic movie-western style popular 40 years ago, and yet they do not possess the subtle qualities to make this genre successful for them. Matt Damon frequently flashes his shy/self-conscious movie-star smile, but he's so clean and bland and laid-back, he's practically non-existent on the screen. Penelope Cruz, as his forbidden flame, is better, but the other performers are less charismatic, and the story has no center--it just rambles around. *1/2 from ****