The Newton Boys

REVIEW
It's period-piece dress-up time in Linklater's first innocuous dud. The Newton Boys is a Prohibition era western about brazen, cocky bank robbers; it has little violence, little blood, little excitement -- three ingredients usually associated with the genre. Based on a true story, the film follows four brothers who grew up as farmers to become the most successful bank robbers in American history. The tone of the films suggests Johnny Dangerously meets Young Guns (didn't any of these actors stop to think what the cast of that frat-boy western is up to these days?), and although the banjo and fiddle score spells comedy, there's nothing particularly humorous (or dramatic for that matter) on the screen. The Newton Boys is best remembered for being unmemorable.