Kowalski meets the Hmongs

Rating: 5/10 (18 September 2009)

This is certainly a likable movie for a plethora of reasons, but unfortunately it isn't all that good. Clint plays a disgruntled elderly WPC (white Polish Catholic) and Korean War veteran who's just lost his wife and who, although he hates to admit it to himself, is at the end of his line. To make things worse, a bunch of "gooks" (Hmong) are bringing down his neighbourhood -- he even catches one of them trying to steal his prized 1972 Gran Torino. When the perp's family sends the li'l rascal over as Kowalski's dogsbody to make amends, the unlikely duo eventually warm to each other. When Kowalski finds out that his neighbours -- gook or not -- are being bullied by a gang of Hmongs gone bad, he decides to settle the affair the old-timey kind of way ...
OK, could've been a showcase for old bone Clint, but the story's just too thin and predictable, the story-telling is far too hammy. For example, when Kowalski decides that his new-found protégé is too meek, he takes him along to a friend to show him how real men talk. The two old fogeys then present a model dialogue along the lines of "What do you want, you cheap Polack SOAB?" -- "A haircut, if your hectic schedule allows it, you lazy Irish MF." &c p. p. Kowalski is also being harried by a puffy-faced Catholic priest, with whom he suddenly makes amends at the end of the movie. And he lets on that he's killed at least 13 Koreans in the war, and that he sees their faces each night. It's just all a bit "seen it before, and better".
It was an OK movie to watch, but it never really goes anywhere.