Good? Yes. Great? No. Too uneven.

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2008)

I expected a far more serious film than what was delivered. The themes of racism and redemption were a little too heavy-handed, and sloppily presented. There were several bits of dialogue which were too blatant - the script had no faith in the viewer to figure out what the meaning was, and instead felt the need to have Clint talk out loud to himself, or to the priest in an effort to explain it all for the less bright people in the audience.
While the film was intended to illustrate how out of touch Clint's character was, I think the film would have benefited from being a little more natural in the way it presented the younger characters. The script, and staging of many scenes was awkward and worked against the movie as a whole.
I enjoyed Clint, and his performance was definitely amusing... but does he deserve an Oscar, or even a nomination for it? I'd say, no.
The film simply didn't know what it wanted to be. A comedy? A drama? It never really stuck with one thing, and while sometimes this works well in cinema, it felt a little too uneven here.
That said, it is a good movie for sure, but I'd decline to say it's one of the best of the year.
The ending was sappy, and Clint singing over the credits was a final nail in the film's credibility.
I'd give it a 7/10, for entertainment value alone... But there was too much cringe worthy stuff in there to rate it higher, and honestly, I think I'm stretching in giving it a 7...