I wasn't surprised that the popular 2003 Country single would end up to be a film adaptation five years later. If your familiar with the music video of the song Beer for My Horses, you knew some extension and maybe transformation could lead to a movie. The question was, would they do it? The answer, was yes. As much as I loved the song when I was younger, I wasn't going berserk for the film. I was shocked when discovering it I hadn't seen it until about two years later. The main reason was, I was upset Willie Nelson (co singer in the song) wasn't Toby Keith's sidekick/partner in the film. Thats why I avoided it.
Though as soon I started watching it, I inevitably got hooked. It surpassed the video. It honestly did. The video's plot involved a serial killer who would kill prostitutes, and it was up to Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, and another cop to find out who it was. The movie's plot has a lot more suspense, and effects the protagonist, more than the music video did.
Toby Keith plays lovable deputy Rack who's sidekick is more than meets the eye Lonnie (Rodney Carrington), his bumbling sidekick, and silent and solemn Skunk (Ted Nugent). The three deputies recently arrested a group of Mexicans who tried to steal fertilizer from a shop. The brother of one criminal kidnaps Rack's love interest who he goes back to after his most recent girlfriend dumps him. Rack, Lonnie, Skunk, and the criminal head to Mexico to claim the girl and return the criminal.
Besides some bad jokes, cliché moments, and foreshadowing of help from something useless, this movie proves to be okay. There's just a few problems I have with this. The song Beer for My Horses is heard for fifteen seconds (barely) in the near opening of the film. Thats fine, maybe if the movie wasn't called Beer for My Horses, but why would you name a movie after a song, thats not even in a movie? Its on the soundtrack, and the quote "Whiskey for my man, beer for my horses" is said in the movie.
The last thing I have to complain is the fact that Willie Nelson is the sidekick in the song, but not that movie. Instead he plays a random trucker who fixes the guys' car. Why couldn't all three men (Lonnie, Rack, and Willie) be the lead characters in the film. I don't have a problem with Skunk, but he wasn't even in the video.
This will probably be the closest to the video we will get. Im still hung up on the fact that one of my all-time favorite songs has been made into a movie. Not a bad film, with likable characters and some funny humor. Its not often a good country song gets made into a movie. Though lets hope the next one includes the TITLE SONG.
Starring: Toby Keith, Rodney Carrington, Willie Nelson, and Ted Nugent. Directed by: Michael Salomon.
