The Last Rodeo (PG)
09/07/25 19:02 Filed in: 2025
Starring: Neal McDonough
May 2025
Warning! This is NOT a movie review. This is a critique of the film. Intended to initiate a dialogue, the following analysis explores various aspects of the film and may contain spoilers. For concerns over objectionable content, please first refer to one of the many parental movie guide websites. Ratings are based on a four star system. Happy reading!
Can eight seconds feel like an eternity? It can if you’re holding on for dear life as a seething bull violently jostles your body in a dozen different directions.
Three-time bull-riding champion, Joe Wainwright (Neal McDonough), blows off multiple invitations to ride in the Legends bull-riding event in Tulsa, OK. But when his grandson is diagnosed with a brain tumor, Joe chooses to put his body on the line by signing up for one last rodeo.
Brought to us by Angel Studios (Homestead), The Last Rodeo is a faith and family focused film directed by Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes). As its name suggests, Rodeo is also a sports film, with roughly a quarter of its action centering on bull-riding. The pulse-pounding cinematography is superb, riveting viewer interest with ferocious, nail-biting action sequences. These scenes provide some much-needed action to counterbalance the movie’s many somber moments.
Avnet co-wrote the script with McDonough and Derek Presley. Though heartwarming and crowd-pleasing, the film often feels like a Lifetime drama, especially during the talky character moments. Fortunately, these emotional scenes aren’t unbearably sentimental. This is largely due to the realistic, restrained performances of the stellar core cast, which is comprised of McDonough, Sarah Jones as Joe’s daughter Sally, Mykelti Williamson as Joe’s long-time friend Charlie, and Christopher McDonald as the opportunistic rodeo organizer Jimmy Mack.
The film explores several themes, including: the power of friendship, doing whatever it takes to provide for family, the reconciliation of an estranged father and daughter, an old veteran vying against a field of young upstarts (a la Cars), and a man who stopped believing in God after the death of his wife eventually finding his way back to faith (a la Signs).
In the end, Rodeo is a fairly uncomplicated, largely predictable movie with a plot built on farcical elements (Joe competing for a championship in his upper 50s) and contrivances (Charlie tells Jimmy about Joe’s ailing son and Jimmy spills the story to news agencies, which help raise awareness and financial support to help cover the boy’s exorbitant surgery).
But it’s also an inoffensive, inspiring film that should leave audiences feeling uplifted and hopeful—that despite what’s transpired in our inner cities in recent months, our society might just survive if we pull together to help the less fortunate among us.
Otherwise, this might be America’s last rodeo.
Rating: 2½ out of 4