Cowboy Way, The MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 Content: -2 1/2

New Mexico rodeo cowboys Pepper Lewis (Woody Harrelson) and Sonny Gilstrap (Kiefer Sutherland) used to be calf roping teammates. The pair reunites to help mutual friend Nacho (Luis Guzman). Nacho has paid unscrupulous New York businessman John Stark (Dylan MacDermott) to smuggle his daughter, Teresa (Cara Bueno) out of Cuba. Pepper and Sonny follow Nacho to the "Big Apple." They discover that Nacho has been killed and Teresa is about to be sold into slavery and prostitution. They befriend Sam Shaw (Ernie Hudson), a mounted policeman who always wanted to be a cowboy. The unlikely trio sets out to avenge Nacho's death and rescue his daughter. THE COWBOY WAY is hysterically funny when highlighting the culture clashes between cowboys and big city folk. Otherwise, it suffers from the often plodding, predictable story line as the characters face one clash after another.

Sadly, THE COWBOY WAY pushes the boundaries of PG-13 to the limit. Over 100 crudities, obscenities, and profanities are uttered. The colorful Pepper has a lewd slang phrase for every situation. Once, he appears nude except for his cowboy hat strategically placed, and two other times he is shown fully nude from the rear. In one particularly offensive scene, Pepper and Sonny try to pry information out of a hoodlum by tying him to a fence and forcing a calf to “nurse” him. There are several shootings, but they are only mildly bloody. Due to language, nudity and sexually suggestive dialogue and situations, THE COWBOY WAY is another R film in PG-13 clothing.

Preview Reviewer: Pete Zimowski
Distributor: Universal Pictures, 100 Universal Blvd., Universal City, CA 91608