Beer for My Horses

I'm a woman, and usually people assume that women don't like dumb guy comedies. But more often than not, I'd rather watch something funny than something heartwarming. I'd rather have a little heartwarming in a lot of comedy than the other way around. And in the case of this silly, cheesy, predictable movie, I got my comedy with a dash of heart-warmth.

I like Toby Keith -- he's kinda hot. And I love to listen to him talk. Rodney Carrington is one of the funniest, most talented people out there. And for both of them to be a in movie together -- I was pleased. I laughed my butt off at some of the gags.

I think my favorite part, however, was Ted Nugent as Skunk. As a fellow reviewer pointed out, it was hilariously ironic at that one of entertainment's most opinionated souls, "Talks when he has something to say," as Rack put it. Genius!

I read on the message boards the following line: "For the love of god, how did an angel like Claire Forlani end up in hell?" And I think that sums up my thoughts on this film.

So, you give Rodney Carrington and Toby Keith the power to write a movie, named after a Toby Keith song, and directed by a guy who has done some Garth Brooks music videos. Throw in Willie Nelson, an arrow-launching Ted Nugent and David Allan Coe. I just don't know what to think anymore.

The movie is absolutely stupid, and you may enjoy that if you need to turn off your brain or you've already seen every episode of "Bridezilla". I don't know what the political message here is... I'm sure it's convoluted and stupid, though, since that's what happens the second you associate with Nugent (a fine musician, an idiot otherwise).

My wife and I are huge TK fans. When he was in the 'burgh last week telling the concert goes about the movie, we thought "what the heck, lets check it out." We should have been tipped off by the completely empty theater, but we figured, its 7:00 on a Monday night so maybe they're just really slow. Wrong-o. Toby, you write great songs and your singing is fantastic, but you need to get as far away from Hollywood as you can. I'm not sure if the acting was so bad it destroyed the writing or if the writing was so bad it couldn't be acted, but whatever the reason, this movie was just plain bad. On the sneak preview show on CMT, the stars/writers Toby and Rodney kept referring to it being like Cannonball Run. Having seen the Cannonball movies, I should have seen it coming, but the Cannonball movies would be Oscar material compared to this. I would have given it a 1 but there was one funny scene. Other than that, I say again save your $8.50 and watch it on CMT in 3 months.

I have no earthly idea what "Beer for My Horses" is supposed to be or whom it's supposed to appeal to, but it does have one of the most unusual casts I've seen in ages. Rock and country music stars Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Mel Tillis, Ted Nugent, Mac Davis and David Allen Coe join up with actual, honest-to-God actors like Tom Skerrit and Claire Forlani in a film derived from Keith's hit country song of the same name.

In fact, Keith co-wrote, directed and plays the lead in this tale of an Oklahoma sheriff whose girlfriend is kidnapped after he and his men arrest the brother of a nefarious Mexican drug lord for stealing fertilizer, apparently a key ingredient in meth production (who knew?). Soon, the law enforcer and his posse are headed south-of-the-border to rescue the girl.

Keith has thrown just about everything he can think of into the mix: small-town buffoonery, race-tinged melodrama, low-keyed romance, a troupe of circus performers, a flatulent bulldog, and more scowling Mexicans than you can shake a sombrero at. Somehow it's all supposed to go together, but even the most accomplished filmmaker would have trouble making it all work. Still, it's so homespun, scruffy and amiable that criticizing it too harshly would be like kicking the family mutt.

I only rented this because of Rodney Carrington. His songs on Youtube are hilarious!!!!!! I didn't expect much and just hoped that there would be enough funny parts to pull the movie through. I was shocked at what I saw. Granted the movie is not going to win (or be nominated) for best picture, but it was original, and very entertaining. The story was far better than I expected, and I had some laughs. After watching it my wife asked me to buy her a copy of it for Christmas.

If you see this show expecting a dumb comedy you will be pleasantly surprised. If you see it expecting it to be "picture of the year" you will probably be disappointed.