Calamity Jane

Overall, this film just "feels" sort of odd.... like it's unpolished. There are just minor nuances that work against any "suspension of disbelief". Things like someone speaking one sentence in *too* perfect English. I.e. ".. that is how things are meant to be" as opposed to "...that's how things're meant ta be". Or one person looks sparkling clean when everyone else looks dusty and worn. Or.. the long hair wigs on the male actors just look unrealistic (if not reused between actors - seriously looks like the same long hair wig on several different actors).

There's FAR too much attempt at some sort of emotional pull for Jane.. but there's ZERO character development for her. This is NOT a story about how Jane got her nickname. Not even close. It STARTS with Jane already having her nickname and apparently some sort of reputation. It's not even a story about Jane really.... it's a story that *happens* to have Jane, Buffalo Bill, etc. In it - that's all. There's no reason all the character names couldn't have been changed to completely unrecognizable names, the film would have been the same.

Honestly, I didn't care about any of the characters - but it was CLEAR that was the intent of some scenes. It was clearly striving to be some sort of "emotional western". But came across as just formulaic and cliché.

Overall, this film has an air of a "made for TV" film.. that same melodramatic acting and soundtrack.. and storyline. LITTERED with clichés in scenes, characters, settings, and dialog.

This film is not really horrible, but it is exceptionally unremarkable and forgettable.

Some foul language, western violence. (shooting, etc). No sex or nudity or adult content (might have been a kiss at most).

The push from the studios for diversity and equality delivers us movies like this. Half rate action, changing accents, characters treated with reverence/respect/caution without any backstory to justify it, and an underwhelming end product.

I *get* that people want representation and variety, but this felt forced and contrived. Maybe we've been spoilt for choice with the range of modern westerns (Deadwood, No Country For Old Men, 1883) but this is not even close to the same league. It felt like it delivered WNBA level excitement. Acting is sub par, accents weren't consistent, and even the set/cinematography felt too CGI to be believable.

Watched on a whim - don't necessarily regret it, but won't be recommending it to anyone.

...and settle in for a re-watch of Deadwood, the brilliant TV series that features far better acttors & depictions of Jane & Bill. This thing is a train wreck that dares to take these names in vain. Muddled and incoherent from the start, with ill-placed soundtrack music that just adds to the irritation.

Now, for the rest of the required word count - my favorite westerns, among which I count the above-mentioned TV series - The Unforgiven, The Good, The Bad & the Ugly, Hell Or High Water, The Long Riders, a whole bunch more Eastwood films, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Lone Star, McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Lonesome Dove TV series...

When I stumbled upon the 2024 Western movie "Calamity Jane", from writers Leon Langford and Collin Watts, I had never heard about it. But I opted to watch it on account of it being a movie that I had never seen or heard about. And I figured that since the movie had Tim Rozon on the cast list, then chances would be that the movie would actually be worthwhile watching.

Right, well within the first minutes of the movie, the F-word was used two times, and that pretty much put a dampener on the movie for me. While I am not a prude, then I just don't think that language is suitable in a Western movie. And it continued on throughout the course of the movie, and I have to say that it definitely took away something from the overall enjoyment of the movie for me. Writers Leon Langford and Collin Watts really dropped the ball with the excessive swearing dialogue here.

The storyline in the movie was fairly good, as it proved to be entertaining and straightforward. However, the movie is hardly one that warrants more than a single viewing, as there just simply isn't sufficient contents to the storyline to support multiple viewings.

I was only familiar with actors Tim Rozon and Mike Dopud of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, and they were indeed nice additions to the movie. I will say that they had a good cast ensemble, and the acting performances in the movie were good.

Director Terry Miles's 2024 movie "Calamity Jane" looks and felt like a proper Western movie, which was nice. They had definitely stepped all the way in here and made it rather presentable. I liked that about the movie.

Watchable, for sure, but the excessive foul language sort of ruined the movie for me.

My rating of director Terry Miles's 2024 movie "Calamity Jane" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Poor acting and direction is what putting me off. Not sure why the first review had it as 10? Perhaps their relative who enjoyed the family show. There are plenty of actions and kilings just like typical western movies. I suggest the old western movies had alot better actors then this film has. It is like watching C Grade western movie with students from drama school. They definitely need a far better director who can able to see what the audience can see. Nah, it was a waste of time for me. If you don't mind poor acting and enjoy watching them like on stage, then this will be you. I give a three.