Ok, we’ll be real: We thought Tony Toht’s Americana was actually an adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Oh, what an “H” can do — add it, and you’re making an adaptation of a beloved novel, remove it, and you’re pretty goddamn close to being a new Taylor Swift record. Anyway, this here’s a Chicken-Fried It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, though with America’s favorite body wash genie, Sydney Sweeney, replacing Milton Berle and Paul Walter Hauser taking over for Mickey Rooney (does that mean Simon Rex is Spencer Tracy?). Lionsgate dropped a trailer for the project earlier on Thursday, and you know what? We’ll take it, especially since we love how Halsey’s done up in the classic Joan Jett style.
The one thing we can’t shake is how much this movie could use some Burt Reynolds. This would be perfect if it just had the Bandit and/or a bearskin rug in it. Are we finally circling back to that kind of ’70s and ’80s nostalgia? Mull that over while you take a look.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis for Americana:
“A gallery of dynamic characters clash over the possession of a rare Native American artifact in this wildly entertaining modern-day western. After the artifact falls onto the black market, a shy waitress with big dreams (Sydney Sweeney) teams up with a lovelorn military veteran (Paul Walter Hauser) to gain possession of it, putting them in the crosshairs of a ruthless criminal (Eric Dane) working on behalf of a Western antiquities dealer (Simon Rex). Bloodshed ensues when others join the battle, including the leader of an Indigenous group (Zahn McClarnon) and a desperate woman fleeing her mysterious past (Halsey).”
Americana had its world premiere back in March at this year’s SXSW, and will gallop to a theater near you on August 22.