Cry Macho

Clint Eastwood embarks on a journey to Mexico to find his boss's son and bring him to America. The cocky teenager and the old curmudgeon don't get along, but on the way home they find they can learn a lot from each other. This time, Hollywood classic Eastwood made a very slow drama that relies on his charisma and nothing else. And unfortunately, it's not enough. Clint is still the man, but unfortunately the unoriginal and predictable plot trip him up. A mediocre and unremarkable film that you can do without and that Eastwood's filmography could do without. (22.09.2021)

Clint Eastwood's acting grand finale was undoubtedly Gran Torino. I take all his roles that came after that as an epilogue – a respectable epilogue of a guy who's only doing it for fun, for the love of film, because he just wants to. So I can't be surprised that he wanted to star once more, and in Cry Macho, a modern romantic western with a strongly naive plot that I think deliberately recalls Eastwood's first TV roles. No, it's certainly not a groundbreaking role, and the sight of a 90-year-old veteran is moving, whether that's the intention or not, but it was definitely worth watching. And then, of course, there's the other side of things, which is that Eastwood also directed. And directorially, Cry Macho stands up without turning a blind eye. (19.02.2022)

This seems rather underestimated by others. OK, it has a rather average story and a weird beginning, but then Clint takes things into hand and contemplates about getting old and passing on wisdom to the younger generation. Not such a wow as Grand Torino, but still way above the competition. This old man, oozing with charisma, teaches a kid to ride a horse, pulls a cute housewife and knows how to fight too. In fact, I like this more than I expected. Loser cops... Stupid bastards. If they had a brain, they’d be dangerous. (30.10.2021)

I was at a loss for words regarding Cry Macho. Clint Eastwood definitely deserves our respect for the fact that even at such an advanced age (and during a global pandemic) he could stand in front of and behind the camera without losing any of his macho swagger. In addition, his performance feels very kind-hearted, and the movie has a lot of heart-warming moments. However, I need to call a spade a spade here and add that it is also a really poor production with an incredibly lackluster screenplay, extremely shallow dialogues, and zero plot gradation. It is only as the end credits roll that one realizes that what happened in the last few minutes was actually meant to be the moral catharsis of the entire drama. Sadly, no kudos really, and a disappointment from such a great movie-maker - well, hopefully, Eastwood will step up with his next movie. (21.09.2021)