I probably like the premise of this film more than I liked the story. It’s another case of a movie showing me a culture and lifestyle I was unfamiliar with… similar to Nomadland in that sense. In this case, the film is about urban cowboys or, maybe more apt, folk who love and own horses in the big city.

In this film, a young Detroit teen on his way to a life of trouble is packed up by his mom and sent to Philadelphia to live with his urban cowboy dad. Idris Elba plays the pops and he shares a house with his horse. The movie is about the young man trying to stay out of trouble and falling in love with the horse and lifestyle, against his original judgement. And the cowboys in general desire to keep the city police out of their business.

It’s an interesting film partly because it flips on its head an old movie trope. You know the one… young girl winds up in some open sky state out west, learns to love the pretty little horses. Just swap her with a young black boy and big sky country with downtown Philly.

Unfortunately, I liked the idea of the film more than I enjoyed the film itself. It’s not bad and its well acted, for sure. But I grew impatient with it… I think it’s got some real pacing issues. I grew bored waiting for more interesting or original things to happen. It’s very telling that, during the closing credits, interviews with real urban cowboy play and I thought those were far more interesting than the film.

Roger Ebert once said that, when watching a movie based on real events, ask yourself if a documentary about the subject would be more interesting than the film. In this case, I think that’s so. But it’s not a terrible movie by any stretch… maybe needs a little trimming here and there.

Score: 76