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Following the tracks of Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, writer/director David Jacobs' Down In The Valley is the latest film to aim a Colt.45 at America's beloved western hero. Starring Edward Norton as the charismatic but delusional cowboy Harlan Caruthers and Evan Rachel Wood as Tobe, the spirited teenager he falls for, this is an unusual, occasionally breathtaking but sinister tale of two star-crossed lovers where urban and rural America collide.

Tobe (Wood) has an uneasy role as both the guardian to her timid younger brother Lonnie (Rory Culkin) and the teenage daughter, grappling with her independence from tough-loving step-dad Wade (Bruce Dern). When she spots the cute gas station attendant Harlan (Norton) on the way to the beach one day, it signals the start of an impulsive and heady romance.

"EXCELLENT PERFORMANCES"

Set among the suburban sprawl of LA's San Fernando Valley, the rugged hills, bisected by 10 lane freeways, provide a perfect backdrop to Harlan's urban cowboy as he romances his girl. But Harlan is not the innocent country boy he outwardly portrays and while the incongruous "howdy sir" routine cuts no mustard with Wade, both Tobe and Lonnie are drawn into his delusions, with potentially fatal consequences.

The leads give excellent performances, echoing the power and angst of American History X and Thirteen for Norton and Wood respectively. But the narrative begins to drift like tumbleweed in the second half and an implausible finale detracts from an otherwise fine homage to classic Westerns.