Theater director Saša is sent to a small desolate town to stage its first theater play in 12 years. Six local wackos audition—Domagoj, Juraj, Javor, Bruno, Miodrag and Ivan—and since they are the only ones who showed up, they are all hired to be actors. A woman, Marica, wants to join, so she is enlisted, as well. Saša decides to make a western play for them. Despite numerous problems, including threats from the supervisor that he will shut the whole project down, and the fact that Bruno might be gay, they perform the play on stage. The theater is full. The play is about a sheriff who upholds the law in the wild west. The audience gives them applause, while Saša dies from pneumonia in the hospital.
"Cowboys" is a fun comedy about seven people with aimless existence who unite to perform a play on stage and thus give themselves some meaning and goal in their empty lives, and it once again shows how sometimes it is more interesting watching artists making a movie or a play than watching that sole movie / play. The first 20 minutes are the best, elegantly and skillfully setting everything up so smoothly that the viewers not only instantly understand what is going on, but are also engaged. The sole audition scene, where the six locals appears and disappear on the screen in jump cuts, is aesthetic and very funny, with some absurd dialogue ("Acting experience?" - "More amateur ones. Like, at home"). The theater director Sasa complains to his supervisor that all these candidates are atrocious actors, but, surprisingly, he just calms him down: "Nobody even expects from these people to become real actors. Neither from you to make a masterwork. The important thing is that you are here, that the town gets its first play after 12 years. And that you accept this as such." In another comical scene at the bowling alley, three of these amateur actors sit at a table, until one has this exchange with Miodrag: "Are you a Serb?" - "No, I'm half Gypsy, half... Someone else. I know who. And you?" - "What me? I'm normal!" He then asks the third guy, who is always quiet: "Are you always quiet?" - "No", he replies. And then just continues being quiet. The rest of the film never really manages to repeat this level of comedy, settling mostly only on amusing, but standard, routine, without much creative liftoffs, and it's a pity that out of the seven characters, only three truly stand out (Miodrag, Bruno, Marica), while the rest is not that distinct and "disappears" in the crowd. Despite the fact that there isn't a clear payoff nor a rounded up conclusion at the end (it would have been interesting to see how the play affected their lives in town afterwards, or what self-esteem Marica got from playing her role), "Cowboys" is a well made comedy that will be more appreciated by artists and creators.
Grade:++
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