A Night in Old Mexico (2013) Directed by Emilio Aragón

This movie is nothing too special but it at least still remains a perfectly watchable one, with an 82-year old Robert Duvall showing his still great form.

It's a very typical movie that isn't doing anything too original or surprising but the good news about it is that it never turns into a bad movie with anything. It actually is a perfectly watchable movie, that also luckily isn't as serious or dry as its premise probably makes it sound.

In some ways, it's actually a pretty cute and charming little movie, in which a grumpy old Texas rancher and his adult grandson, who he had never met before, end up going onto a road trip together to Mexico. They of course slowly get to know each other, as they start to open up more toward each other and even start to learn from each other. But again, it's not all drama or seriousness. There is plenty of entertainment and exaggerated movie moments in it. This both is a positive and negative thing about this movie. Positive because it keeps the movie a perfectly watchable but also negative because the movie never goes quite deep enough with anything for it to ever work out as a very solid or engaging enough one. In the end, it also does feel like a redundant movie, that fails to make much of an impact and that won't live long in the memory.

Another problem with the movie are the dynamics between the Robert Duvall and Jeremy Irvine characters. Now, not much wrong with Robert Duvall's acting of course but Jeremy Irvine on the other hand is terribly uncharismatic in his role as his grandson. There is never any real chemistry between the two of them, which is also the foremost reason why certain plot lines and elements keep feeling underdeveloped and some things simply don't work out at all.

It's also all part of the reason why the movie feels quite redundant and like it's lacking a good point and main focus in it. Sure, it's a good and harmless enough little movie but in the long run, what is it actually trying to tell and achieve with its story?

Nevertheless, it remains a perfectly watchable little movie but it however remains far from an absolutely must-see, not even for those who are interested in Robert Duvall's performance.

6/10

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