It seems another member of Clint Eastwood's brood is ready for stardom.
Francesca Eastwood, 22, his daughter with Frances Fisher, is one of the bright lights in writer-director JT Mollner's otherwise uneven feature debut, "Outlaws and Angels," a violent and perverse paean to the trashy spaghetti westerns that Italy pumped out in the 1970s.
A low-budget heist story that's been marinated in a seriously twisted and disturbing sense of humor, "Outlaws and Angels" stars Chad Michael Murray as Henry, the leader of a gang of thugs who seek shelter at a preacher's remote farmhouse after pulling off a blood-soaked bank robbery in New Mexico.
"Farscape's" Ben Browder sports a squirrel's tail of a mustache as the preacher George Tildon, who cowers as the four bad men attack his wife (a Bible-thumping Teri Polo) and two teenage daughters, the mean-spirited Charlotte (Madisen Beaty) and bullied baby sister Flo (Eastwood).
Thing is, Flo ain't too upset about being taken hostage. She falls head over heels for Henry, telling him about the horrible Cinderella life she's lived with her hateful family.
She admits she wants to be an outlaw.
Eastwood and Murray are wonderful together, playing off each other's growing psychosis as they egg each other on to rain holy hell on the rest of the family.
The lively cast includes Francesca Eastwood's real-life mom Fisher, Nathan Russell, and Luke Wilson _ who does a madcap turn as an ax-wielding bounty hunter who goes after Henry and his crew.
Mollner has had some serious film-fest success with his short films, including "Flowers in December" and "The Red Room."
He's an inventive filmmaker, although here prone to dropping too many hipper-than-thou references to the mega-violent flicks of Quentin Tarantino, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone.
When he's not trying so hard and takes the time to do his own thing, he creates enjoyably twisted satire.
