By Kayla DeKraker
THE LAST RODEO director Jon Avnet celebrated family-friendly content at this year’s 33rd Annual Movieguide® Awards Gala.
“I hope to enjoy myself. I’ll be with my actors, Neal McDonough and Mykelti [Williamson]. We always have a good time,” he told Movieguide® on the red carpet, adding, “So I’m looking forward to that.”
THE LAST RODEO is up for the Best Family Movies award, and actor Mykelti Williamson was nominated for the Grace Award for Movies.
Avnet thinks it’s important to celebrate movies about faith an hope.
“I’d like to see a little bit of goodness in the media and something that’s inspiring to people, as opposed to a lot of stuff that comes out that doesn’t celebrate the best of us,” he said. “I like to look at and put a spotlight on the best of us.”
Related: Neal McDonough-Led THE LAST RODEO Spotlights an All-American Sport
The director hopes that THE LAST RODEO inspires audiences on a personal level.
“You know, it’s a father-daughter story, and I’ve got a couple of daughters,” Avent said. “A lot of times, fathers have struggled with their daughters, and I think the idea of trying to make an effort, to communicate, to reconcile. You’ll never get it right, but if you really make an effort, maybe you can make a make it better.”
The movie follows McDonough’s Joe Wainwright, a retired rodeo star who “enters a high-stakes bull-riding competition” to save his grandson. “Along the way, he confronts his past, discovers faith, and proves that true courage lies in family,” IMDB’s synopsis reads.
That father-daughter relationship came to a head in one specific scene.
“There was a moment where Sarah Jones and Neal McDonough are doing this scene…and [Sarah] just knocked it out of the park, and it was really a daughter letting loose on her father and you could feel the pain and the struggle she had. And it was a tough time and I think that emotionally grounded the movie,” Avnet said.
Movieguide®’s review of THE LAST RODEO reads, “THE LAST RODEO is a powerful, exciting movie with wonderful acting and powerful reconciliations as well as many wonderful, heartfelt scenes of reconciliation and miraculous overcoming. Best of all, THE LAST RODEO has a strong Christian, biblical worldview. It has multiple references to God the Father, with characters talking about Him openly.”
Movieguide® notes, “There are also multiple instances of reading the Bible and accepting God’s grace. However, THE LAST RODEO has violent bull riding scenes, a fight in a bar, three very light obscenities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® commends THE LAST RODEO with a light caution.”
THE LAST RODEO is available to stream on Angel or on Prime Video.
To see if THE LAST RODEO takes home any awards, tune into Great American Family on March 5!
Read Next: Did NEAL MCDONOUGH’s Hidden Shoulder Injury Almost END The Last Rodeo?
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