MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Manthast Absolutely amazing

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

bkoganbing As a fan of the Professional Bull Riders which has the elite best of the bull riders participating in that league I was surprised that they let their imprimatur on a film as wildly inaccurate as Cowboy Up. There are two incredibly big inaccuracies and a whole lot of little ones.First while I've seen the riders get on bulls with injuries that would keep them out of competition in most sports, there ain't no way that the PBR doctors would allow a man with a plate in his head compete as a bull rider. But that's what we're led to believe.But also the Professional Bull Riders is an elite league and to get to the Las Vegas finals you compete in that league, be it in the USA or in Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico the other countries where the PBR has taken root. Nobody like Marcus Thomas is going to get into those PBR finals by winning a bunch of regular rodeo events, sanctioned or unsanctioned.I wish I could rate Cowboy Up higher because it looks like a project that the participants put a lot of heart and soul into. It's the story of two cowboy brothers, Kiefer Sutherland who works as a bullfighter whose job it is to haze the bulls and keep them injuring the riders and the second is aspiring bull rider Marcus Thomas.As I said before Thomas has a plate in his head as a result of a bad fall and encounter with a bovine. This would be a career ending injury even in bull riding, but we're just not going to tell anyone about it. Thomas even though he's keeping company with Molly Ringwald also has an eye on rodeo groupie Darryl Hannah. Both the injury and the romance cause a break between the brothers.Sad to say that this film will not rank up there with 8 Seconds, The Lusty Men, J.W. Coop, or Junior Bonner as a great rodeo film.

sheila-martinez-1 "Cowboy Up" was done well. Having grown up in rodeo, I was very impressed with how realistic they made it. The characters and the way they lived were right on the money. The relationship between the two brothers was like many I have witnessed myself. I thought they did a wonderful job pulling you in and making you feel the emotion that each character possessed. You can tell that Keifer spent time in the rodeo circuit and has the knowledge needed to pull off a "true to life" movie about rodeo instead of the "Hollywood" version of cowboys and their lifestyles. good job!!! The average person may not appreciate the movie, but anyone that has lived behind the scenes will love it! Many bullriders that I know have seen the move and loved it

jasnicklv It is hard to understand that this film has received such a modest rating. The construction of the film is first rate, starting with the script by James Reford, and continuing with an excellent cast of experienced actors, direction which keeps a pace designed to hold the attention of the viewer, and camera work with both close-in and long shots that convey the action of the rodeo.Led by Kiefer Sutherland, the support team of actors "works" to reveal a contemporary twist of classic story lines---competing brothers whose love for one another is stretched to the limits, an ego centric father who deserts is family and wallows in self pity, a mother who deals with the realities daily life, lovers that are courted, spurned, and hurtfully do their own rejections. And all this is subtly tied together by a bull---the object of obsession within the community of rodeo aficionados, and a symbol of challenge that goes back thousands of years to the island of Crete.While some "urban" or actual working cowboys of today may choose to pick at the text, acting, or realism of Cowboy Up, the film really captures the idea of why rodeo enthusiasts still keep the myth of the west still alive---even in Las Vegas! Cowboy Up deserves greater recognition than it has heretofore.

Artemis699 This movie is absolutely terrible. Even with a Redford, a Hannah, a Sutherland, and an incredibly knowledgeable bullriding instructor, this movie failed to deliver in story, plot, and reality.The main character is utterly unlikeable and many of his surrounding characters are so shallowly written that normally good actors can muster up, at best, USA movie of the week caliber performances. The writer did absolutely nothing to deepen the characters and as a result, the viewer knows nothing about Ely and could care less if he wins or loses.On top of that *SPOILERS AHEAD* The logistical details of teh rodeo life are pure fiction. He goes from riding PRCA to suddenly winning the PBR finals. He shows up for a rodeo with no intent to ride and is allowed on a bull at teh last minute, and many other things that a person with even a layman's grasp of rodeo would identify as pure fantasy. Even the tragic death at the end was so rushed and confused that I did not register any emotion. That and the ending made no sense what so ever. I'm sure he was trying to make some dramatic point about the sanctity of life, but at that point I was too bored to care.