OxfordPress.com

Grade: C

Verdict: “Friends” goes west.

Details: Starring Colin Farrell, Gabriel Macht and Ali Larter. Directed by Les Mayfield. Rated PG-13 for western violence. One hour, 52 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: My heroes have always been cowboys so I was inclined to like "American Outlaws," a new take on the outlaw Jesse James. And parts of it are very likable. Colin Farrell's romatic-hero portrayal of Jesse. The big action scenes in the second half. The picture's self-conscious yet timely ruminations on the cult of celebrity.

However, a lot of the movie is also sloppy and unfocused.

The film begins the day after General Robert E. Lee has surrendered. Since news was a bit slow in those days, Jesse and his brother Frank (Gabriel Macht) and their pals, the Younger brothers — Cole ( Scott Caan), and Bob (Will McCormack) — are engaged in a bloody skirmish with the Yankees. They win, but that's not nearly as good as getting to go home to Missouri and Ma (Kathy Bates.) Says Jesse, "God help any damn fool who tries to come between me and my farm again."

Prophetic words. Soon enough some damn fools from the railroad try to force Ma to sell the farm. When she refuses, they burn down her house. As she dies in Jesse's arms, she sees God and utters the immortal line, "You're a lot shorter than I thought."

But, as enforcer Allan Pinkerton (Timothy Dalton) later says to his boss, railroad tycoon Thaddeus Rains (Harris Yulin), he's messed with "the wrong bunch of farm boys."

The James and the Youngers declare war on the railroad. That means they rob banks in towns where the railroad has stashed its cash.

The first half of "American Outlaws" is pretty dismal, using bargain-basement western cliches and ripping off other movies (Jesse's reins-in-the-mouth, guns-blasting charge is straight out of "True Grit.")

But the second half is an improvement. We get to know the dynamics of the gang better. The dialogue gets funnier. And a scene in which Jesse escapes from a train has a little touch of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Dalton, a former 007, hams it up, adopting a Scottish burr that sounds suspiciously like the ur-Bond, Sean Connery.

So, most of the movie is carried by our young guns. Farrell is just irresistible.Macht has a solid presence as Frank and McCormack kinda grows on you as the guys banter together like, well, the cast of "Friends." Actually that's what this movie is like. The "Friends" gang goes west. Farrell's romantic interest, Ali Larter, even looks like a cross between Jennifer Aniston and one of the same litter that spawned Britney and Christina.

"American Outlaws" is one of those not-bad-not-good pictures. To its credit, it's not pretentious. You can feel it trying to be a better movie than it is.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, (none)