What a load of codswallop. Colin Farrell sucked. Who cast Caan in this? He looks deformed. Genuinely terrible film. Don't waste your time.

SPOILERS AHEAD! "American Outlaws" is cinematic proof that the American public will watch just about anything, even a film that makes "Young Guns" look like "The Searchers." Colin Farrell is Jesse James and Gabriel Macht plays his brother Frank. After the film opens with perhaps the most fun ever had at a Civil War battle, the Jameses and Youngers head home to Missouri. There, evil railroad executives have moved into the state in record time and are trying to buy everyone's land to build a railroad. Farms are burned, people killed, and the Youngers and Jameses have had it. After Ma James (Kathy Bates, here for the paycheck) is killed in an attack, the guys decide to stick it to the man by robbing banks where the railroad company does business. The rest of the film is a series of explosions as the gang robs, Allan Pinkerton (Timothy Dalton) tries to track James down, and the boys escape from one pickle to another. This film is stupid. So stupid. First of all, all the characters are straight out of a screenplay seminar: Jesse the dashing hero, Zee (Ali Larter) his love interest, Frank the smart one, Cole Younger (Scott Caan) the hothead, Bob Younger (Will McCormack) the "funny" one, Jim Younger (Gregory Smith) the boy who you know will die, Tom (Nathaniel Arcand) the politically correct Native American Indigenous People Indian Scout guy whose sole function here is to add some color to the cast of white guys, Rains (Harris Yulin) and Parker (Terry O'Quinn) are the villains, Ma James is the religious nut who has no problem with guns and killin', and Pinkerton, who enjoys the chase of James more than the capture. All the young men wear cool clothes and brandish magical pistols that reload themselves. Thank goodness everyone over thirty five is an idiot, so as these rascally killers can go John Woo/Chow Yun Fat all over their gold-filled rumps and do serious damage without ever killing an innocent bystander. Electric guitar riffs fill the soundtrack, and the film goes through all its preordained set pieces where the outcome has already been determined yet the film makers treat them as if they invented the genre. If you need to see cute guys without their shirts on, go online. If you need to see a decent western, watch anything but this. The entire cast and crew should be ashamed of themselves for coming up with this and shooting it. Did we learn nothing from "The Brady Bunch," when Bobby worshiped Jesse James until Mike brought home the son of one of the outlaw's victims? Why is that decades old sitcom more responsible than this dung? Wanna know the kicker to this whole migraine of a movie? Ma James is killed, prompting the boys to take revenge on the railroad. In real life, she outlived Jesse by almost forty years. Avoid "American Outlaws" like you would the popular girl at the brothel.

It's a fun and action-packed Western with a good cast. Colin Farrell does a great job as Jesse James, and the movie has a nice sense of humor. I spent a really good time watching it.

American Outlaws is more like a music video than a movie. The acting is corny, the story is weak, and the whole thing is wrapped in cliches.

I was laughing hysterically and then realized it wasn't a comedy and then I laughed even harder. Who wrote this movie?? This movie was a bad excuse for the actors to take their shirts off. I didn't know they had pompadours in the 1871.

Jesse James (George Stults) and his brother Frank (Tim Abell) have emerged from a robbery gone wrong and Jesse is healing up with the help of Carrie (Siri Baruc) and Mary (Lauren Eckstrom). They don't know that Marhsall Kane (Peter Fonda, who started his career making low budget Roger Corman films and fits in just fine here) is coming after them as well as his men making a play for the money and leaving the brothers in the cold. How do you feel about day for night? Do you love it? Would you be happy just to have Jeffrey Combs show up for a little bit? Will you watch every western there is? Are you a fan of Fred Olen Ray or perhaps writing an entire week of a web site about his movies? There's still someone on IMDB that's calling out the historical and weapon accuracy of Ray's movies, such as how the movie is set in the 1860s and civilians are carrying Colt Model 1873 Single Action Army revolvers — which weren't available to the general population until 1875 or later — and none of the guns recoil when they're shot. I appreciate the writer's attention to detail and invite them to write for the site.

Reasonably entertaining. The dialogue was a bit stilted, but I guess it's a 20 year old production so it may not have aged all that well.

Vastly inaccurate depiction of the Jesse James gang. Colin Farrell does everything he can to carry the bitter plot. There are some decent action sequences here and there. This is a corny and forgettable Western movie. Definitely wasted a good story with mediocre execution.

With the exception of a handful of tightly-done action sequences, this really is more of a train wreck than a train robbery. Unless you paid for a ticket, in which case it was closer to robbery. Colin Farrell essentially does not keep a lid on his densely Irish accent and almost seems like he made no attempt to sound Missourian, unlike the comically overacted cast of forgettable and campy outlaws around him. Furthermore, this story has literally nothing to do with the life and times of Jesse and Frank James or Cole Younger and brothers, except that the characters are all named for real people. Not one single one of these events is even marginally grounded in reality, unless you count grandiose retellings of heists as faithful historical filmmaking. The movie plays more along the lines of "Stand By Me," with the cast giving the impression of immature, teenage rebels doing nothing truly wrong; damn what those rich adults trying to build a railroad and run the US Army think. They just don't understand high school. The dialogue is upsettingly poor and is lousy with patriotic platitudes, forced catchphrases and Nickelodeon-caliber banter between what are supposed to be hardened killers. It's all the more jarring, then, when a real action sequence breaks the total lack of tension and shows some blood. God bless Kathy Bates for putting her lifeless post-Misery star power behind this disaster, and God help the screen writers who gave her literally like 7 lines. Shockingly, this movie has quite a few then-contemporary and future stars who must have kept this off their CVs going forward. Pass.

This movie wants to be Young Guns so bad. Sadly, it is not. Don’t waste your time.

One of the most corny over the top interpretation of Jessie James I had ever seen ,but I couldn't help but to enjoy this movie.

I loved the casting for this movie as, while the movie itself wasn't great, I am just about the biggest Caan Stan there is due to his role in Ready to Rumble. The plot itself was fine even if it was rather clear this was a bedazzled, revisionist look at the outlaws themselves, who weren't good people in real life. The stunts were very good and the movie was entertaining enough that I didn't fall asleep during it even when I'd drank for hours beforehand!

Terribly miscast and a poor attempt to be the new Young Guns (which wasn't great to begin with).

A feel good ending saved the day for this version of the Jesse James story. Grandma loved it too

one of the worst Westerns I've ever seen, seriously who thought combining the backstreet boys and Jessie James would be a great idea?

Great Western! Have seen it several times and always enjoy it.

Made in the fashion of a good ol' fashion western where the good guys can get bullets shot through them and still keep on going, the women were pretty, and villains were easy to dis-like. No blood, no cursing, no nudity, just fun.

The first film I've ever seen Farrell on... previous what the HBO series Tigerland... I thought he was brilliant & that his star was on the rise... & I wasn't wrong.

Great movie in terms of dialogue and entertainment, fair enough the history might not be very accurate but it is well worth watching.

Perhaps a little blaisse, American Outlaws still makes for an enjoyable, if basic, Western ride. Good production values and a charismatic cast are undermined by pedestrian direction and a very odd soundtrack that feels very anachronistic to the period with synth and teenish tunes.