Starring Clint Eastwood (Miko Milo), Eduardo Minett (Rafo), Natalia Traven (Marta) and Howard Polk (Dwight Yoakam) Cry Macho is a story of former rodeo legend Miko Milo being tasked with freeing his boss’ son from his abusive mother in Mexico. Well out of his prime and stuck in a foreign culture, Milo faces a multitude of challenges, forcing him to grow and change emotionally, into a better and different person. This movie was a beautiful and heartfelt film, showing a different side of Eastwood and his range of acting. Or at least that’s what it attempted to do.

Eastwood at the age of 91 and starring in a movie is itself remarkable, but the incredulity of watching him act at his age is Cry Macho’s only bright spot. What started out as such a promising movie of redemption, took multiple unexpected and idiotic turns. In the start of the film, Eastwood is introduced as a former rodeo legend Miko Milo who hurt is back and is now almost worthless, one might think that a logical progression to the plot would be Milo trying to get back on top, but completely unprompted, Eastwood is told to retrieve his boss’ son from Mexico. That has no connection to Milo’s backstory, making his entire characterization almost entirely irrelevant.

Eastwood is traditionally known to be an action star, and this movie almost seems like his final attempt to fit this role once again. While there is a generally thoughtful and heartfelt plot there are a couple of action scenes, but having Eastwood fight in them seems incredibly forced. There is one scene where Rafo’s mother sends her bodyguard/drug dealer/lover named Aurelio to get Rafo back and kill Milo, so naturally, there’s a confrontation. At this point, Milo punches Aurelio which is clearly faked as Milo doesn’t even make contact. To replace Eastwood’s natural action role, a cockfighting chicken named Macho is used to attack many of Milo and Rafo’s other assailants.

The terrible acting doesn’t end there. Each and every line uttered by Rafo, Milo, Yoakam, and Marta are so unconvincing that it makes the movie torturous to watch. The heartfelt conversations between Rafo and Milo, meant to stimulate personal growth within each of the characters (and hopefully the viewers too) are more similar to an adult asking a kid deeply personal questions, making each and every interaction feel awkward.

Throughout the film, Rafo and Milo are given shelter by a woman named Marta. At the end of the movie, Milo is able to retrieve Rafo and get him across the border, but he ends up staying back in Mexico for Marta, whom he falls in love with.

All in all, Cry Macho was one of the worst things that I have ever viewed including multiple elementary school plays. Trying to recapture the glory of some of his past movies, Cry Macho seemed like Eastwood’s last dying gasp of his movie career. I would not recommend watching this film in any circumstances.