DUEL, THE

(director/writer: Justin Matthews, Luke Spencer Roberts; cinematographer: Robert Brinkmann; editors: Matt Willard, Joe Matthews; music: Carl Thiel; cast: Dylan Sprouse (Colin), Callan McAuliffe (Woody), Patrick Warburton (Christof), Denny Love (Sam), Hart Denton (Kevin), María Gabriela de Faría (Aphrodite), Rachel Matthews (Abbie), Christian McGaffney (Joey), Ronald Guttman (Rudolpho); Runtime: 99; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Gordon Strain, Zachary Spicer; Pigasus Pictures; 2023)

“A macho fantasy film that seemed effete to me.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Both co-directors, Justin Matthews and Luke Spencer Roberts, are first-time directors. Their dramedy is a tedious offbeat bromance satire on standing up for one’s honor by fighting a traditional pistol duel.

Colin (Dylan Sprouse) and Woody (Callan McAuliffe) play former besties who are driven by spite to settle a dispute with an old-fashioned gentleman’s duel.

Their bad blood started with their relationship with Abbie (Rachel Matthews). While dating Woody, she cheated on him with his best friend Colin. Because of that, Woody is distraught and wants to save face.

The men have decided the best way to handle it is to have a duel to the death. To make the duel work properly, they have their mutual friends Sam (Denny Love), who is closer to Colin, and Kevin (Hart Denton), who is closer to Woody, help ensure it’s done right, and the mysterious gun shop owner Christof (Patrick Warburton) is to manage the duel. He also narrates.

Sam gets a bloke named Joey (Christian McGaffney) to help find a place to hold the duel, and a drug baron named Rudolpho (Ronald Guttman) hosts the duel and makes it into a social event for the town.

The duel takes place just around the time the film ends, so we get a vapid film filled with exposition and no action until the climax.

It’s a macho fantasy film that seemed effete to me.

REVIEWED ON 8/15/2024  GRADE: C
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