Gentlemen Broncos (PG-13) ★
After making a sparkling debut in 2004 with his first feature film, the slacker comedy Napoleon Dynamite, offbeat writer-director Jared Hess seemed poised for a fruitful career as an earnest, more accessible alternative to hipster auteur Wes Anderson. But he stumbled a bit with his sophomore effort, the uneven Mexican wrestling flick Nacho Libre, despite Jack Black's desperate mugging for laughs. And he falls apart completely with his latest comedy, the crude, maddeningly insipid Gentlemen Broncos.
It's a shame, too, because Gentlemen Broncos held so much potential. Its trailers promised a lively battle of wits between a pompous sci-fi author, played by Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement, and the teenage protege (Michael Angarano) from whom he plagiarized his latest bestselling novel. It could have been Hess's Rushmore.
But what the trailers don't tell you is that Clement plays merely a supporting role in Gentlemen Broncos, and that his character, Dr. Ronald Chevalier, virtually disappears after the film's splendid setup. Clement is by far the best part of the film, and when he isn't on the screen, the story devolves into an increasingly irksome blend of manufactured quirk and lame sight gags.
Hess's sense of humor has regressed to sub-adolescent levels with Gentlemen Broncos. Defecating snakes, breast-puncturing blowdarts and jars of human testicles are just a few of the lowbrow delights that await the brave soul who attempts to make it through a viewing. When Clement returns at the end of the film and mounts a quixotic attempt to rescue it from the mire, his heroic effort is sadly for naught: The disastrous fate of Gentleman Broncos was sealed long before.
Hollywood.com rated this film 1 star.
To get the full Quicklook Films experience, uncheck "Enable on this Site" from Adblock Plus
box office top 10
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Released: March 29, 2024 Cast: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry 80M
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Released: March 22, 2024 Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon 15.7M
Dune: Part Two Released: March 1, 2024 Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson 11.1M
Kung Fu Panda 4 Released: March 8, 2024 Cast: Jack Black, Viola Davis 10.2M
Immaculate Released: March 22, 2024 Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte 3.3M
Tillu Square (Hindi) Released: March 29, 2024 Cast: Sidhu Jonnalagadda, Anupama Parameswaran 2.5M
Arthur the King Released: March 15, 2024 Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu 2.4M
Late Night with the Devil Released: March 22, 2024 Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon 2.2M
Crew (Hindi) Released: March 29, 2024 Cast: Kriti Sanon, Kareena Kapoor 1.7M
Imaginary Released: March 8, 2024 Cast: DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne (II) 1.4M