Americana (2025) Lionsgate/Action-Comedy RT: 107 minutes Rated R (violence, language throughout, some sexual references) Director: Tony Tost Screenplay: Tony Tost Music: David Fleming Cinematography: Nigel Bluck Release date: August 15, 2025 (US) Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Simon Rex, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, Gavin Maddox Bergman, Joe Adler, Derek Hinkey, Toby Huss, Jasper Keen, Christopher Kriesa, Augusta Allen-Jones, Rhiannon Frazier, Kenzie Shea Ross, Emily Perry, Nancy L. Gray, Brady Box, Kevin Wiggins, Alex Knight, Brannon Cross, Austin Boyce, Harriet Sansom Harris, Daved Wilkins, Megan Hensley, Marisilda Garcia, Ines France Ware, Bruce Klefstad, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
Rating: ***
Where does the time go? It doesn’t seem that long ago when theaters and video stores were deluged with all the Tarantino knock-offs that followed in the wake of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. But indeed, about 30 years have gone by. Now we’re at a point where we can call movies like Americana a throwback to that 90s subgenre. This new dark comedy crime-thriller definitely shows the influences of QT and to an equal extent, the Coen Brothers.
Written and directed by Tony Tost, the executive producer of the Peacock show Poker Face making his first foray into feature film, it’s a hybrid of crime thriller and dark comedy that works most of the time. It bears the distinctive marks of QT/Coen with its gory violence, eccentric characters, offbeat performances, quirky dialogue and non-linear narrative. The action centers on a Native American Ghost Shirt (the MacGuffin if you will), an artifact of immense power to its rightful owners, the Lakota, and a valuable item worth a lot of money to others, sleazy antiquities dealer Roy Lee Dean (Rex, Scary Movie 3 & 4) in particular. Everybody wants to get their hands on it.
What I said in the preceding paragraph is more or less the plot of Americana. It unfolds in five chapters, bouncing back and forth between various characters until their paths all cross in the bloody finale. Let’s talk about these people for a moment. The involved parties include diner waitress Penny Jo (Sweeney, Anyone But You), an aspiring country singer with a stammer; Lefty (Hauser, The Naked Gun), a genuinely good person with a habit of proposing to women after only a few dates; Mandy (pop singer Halsey), a punked-out type involved with Dillon (Dane, Euphoria), the small-time thief hired to steal the shirt from a rich collector (Huss, King of the Hill); Ghost Eye (McClarnon, Doctor Sleep), the leader of a Native American resistance movement and Mandy’s young son Cal (Bergman, The Really Loud House) who’s convinced he’s the reincarnation of Sitting Bull.
I don’t see Americana drawing a lot of crowds. There were only two other people, both friends of mine, in attendance at this afternoon’s showing. It only has two show times at my local multiplex, 1:45pm and 7pm. It premiered at SXSW two years ago and is just now making its way to cinemas, most likely to capitalize on the recent success of Sweeney who’s also at the center of some controversy over an ad for American Eagle jeans (more woke BS). It’s not old by any means, but it’s definitely dated (check out the Let’s Go Brandon sticker on a wall in one scene). The fact that Lionsgate opted to dump it mid-August says volumes about their confidence in it. It’s not that bad, not at all.
I’ll grant that Americana is uneven at times. Tost hasn’t quite figured out how to balance the funny with the not so funny. Take Mandy’s story. It involves returning to her childhood home. She’s been estranged from her family for some time. Her upbringing was far from idyllic. What goes on in that house, a domicile where visitors are greeted by armed men and a sign reading “Trespassers will be shot”, is the stuff of nightmares. It’s not an easy fit with the more comical stuff like the little boy described by one of Ghost Eye’s guys as “Baby Billy Jack” (nice 70s reference!). That kid is a hoot! He’s the poster child for cultural appropriation. He’s also deadly with a bow and arrow.
The cast does a fine job. They play interesting characters. Sweeney is one of my favorite new stars. She has an oddball sensibility that complements her beauty. She’s good as Penny Jo, a sweet girl who wants more from life than her grim existence. Her relationship with Lefty is cute. Initially, she recruits him to help her steal the shirt, but comes to like the big lug. Hauser has been ubiquitous as of late with roles in The Naked Gun and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He’s a good actor. I’ve known that since his outstanding performance as the title character in Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell (2019). Halsey, who was also great in last year’s horror film MaXXXine, shows she has staying power. If she ever decides to stop singing, she should take up acting.
Americana is something of a bloodbath. A lot of people get killed. They die by bullets and arrows. The final shootout is especially well done. I like how it ties everything and everybody together. Although non-linear narrative has become old hat since the days of Pulp Fiction, it totally works in this movie’s favor. I appreciate how it harkens back to the indies of the 90s while retaining a 70s sensibility. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s better than the studio and theater chain give it credit for. If you lived through the Tarantino wannabe film movement, you’ll appreciate it too.
