Let me start off by saying I love Robert Duvall, but this is not one of his better efforts (no fault of his, lousy writing and lousy co-stars). It's his typical "tough old guy" routine on steroids.The movie starts slow and gets slower. From there it becomes boring and increasingly predictable.I found myself fast forwarding to get to a point where there was something going on.....and then suddenly I was at the end, thank God.Skip this one, and keep your love and appreciation of Mr Duvall intact!

In true Hollywood form, viewers are supposed to not know that Joshua trees and mountains do not exist in south Texas but that those driving scenes were shot in the high desert of California. The film jumped from Texas to California and back in the same scene.When Duvall tries to shoot himself the hammer is seen on half-cock where the cylinder can be spun (he actually spins it but does not full-cock it) but not shot from. But a split-second later he sends a bullet through the barn door.The Mexico signs upon entering Mexico are hilarious. The first one says ESTADO DE Mexico (Mexico is in all caps on the sign too)(the state next to Mexico City) and the following one says MORELOS, which is also in central Mexico. Neither is on the border.Lotsa laughs but gimme a break with insulting our knowledge of geography.

The story begins with an old Texan having to leave the ranch he has lived in his whole life, at the same moment he is suddenly introduced to a grandson he has never met before. They go off on a jaunt to Mexico where they end up hooking up with another lost soul, a singing stripper. Complicating matters considerably is the fact that they have inadvertently come into possession of a bag containing $150,000 - some violent criminals pursue them for this.The chief draw of A Night in Old Mexico is the presence of veteran actor Robert Duvall. He certainly shows here that he still remains a very capable actor. It's a pity then that this film doesn't have a stronger storyline for Duvall to work off. It's effectively an odd couple movie, with a crime strand underpinning it. The first part works to a certain extent – Duvall's acting is good and the dialogue is often well written – but the dynamics between the three characters often seem a little forced, in particular it's quite hard really believing in the motivations of the Latina stripper character. The crime story, while fairly generic, does offer some potential excitement but it doesn't necessarily play out in such a way as to actually provide too much. Perhaps this is a good thing in some respects as it means that the film is maybe taking a different course to what you might typically expect. Whatever the case, the criminals operate in the background of the story and bump one and other off and they never really seem to pose that much of a threat to our heroes, which does dissipate the potential tension this could have created.The location used by the story was pretty interesting though. The story takes place during the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday celebration. The purpose of which is to gather people together to pray for and remember friends and family who have died. This of course parallels the storyline of the film itself really well. Not only this but the strange skull-like masks worn by the townspeople as part of this celebration make for a somewhat memorable backdrop to proceedings, giving the film a nice distinctive feeling in this area. It's the specifically Mexican flavours that for the most part offer the best things about this flick.

I love Robert Duvall. A lot. Unfortunately, this movie had a predictable plot, bad writing and bad acting (even Duvall). It reminded me of an 80s buddy cop film only not as good. Duvall overdid his cantankerous old man role. The Jeremy Irvine was predictable and the Mexican lady was bland. The story kept switching villains as one got shot by another. I'm not sure why. It seemed to serve no real purpose. It was hard to cheer for Duvall when he was chasing after "his" money when it wasn't his money. I hope Duvall makes another good movie because I don't want this one to be his last. Again, I do love Duvall. Guess, I'll go watch No Country for Old Men.