I DO NOT KNOW IF THE term “broken home” is still used to describe a child’s home, who has divorced parents. To me, the term was an odd choice of words because the word broken has a negative connotation to it; at least that is how I define it. Who is to say the family is broken? Maybe home life will be better for the child now that the parents are no longer together. I believe it is up to the parents to have as their number one focus their children. If I were to use the term “broken home” regarding a divorced mom and dad, I would only use it if the parents are using their child as a weapon against each other. In that case, I would say it is not a broken home; it is a broken parent. There was a family I knew where this happened when the parents decided to divorce. The mother would say negative things about the father in front of the child, working to twist the impressionable mind of the child to favor her over her ex-husband. I found it appalling. The parent worked at twisting her child’s mind by feeding her lies about what holidays would be like if they spent them with their father. It did not take long for the child to refuse to go to the father’s house for a holiday. It was such an ugly situation.      WHERE THAT HOUSEHOLD HAD “BROKEN” PARENTS, I have seen where a child thrived and grew after their parents were divorced. Prior to the couple breaking up, the child witnessed arguments and tension between their mother and father. Through counseling the couple concluded they were better off not being married. Once divorced the 2 were able to devote more time in the rearing of their child. There was no more negative energy within the house, no more fights and the child was able to settle into a new level of comfort with both parents in their separate homes. As a result, the couple became better friends towards each other to the point where, after they found their new significant others, they would socialize together as two couples. The child experienced double the amount of attention and affection. I saw it as a win-win situation for everyone. There was no way I would ever refer to that child’s home as being broken; it was in fact an improvement in my opinion. Sadly, I could not say the same thing for the child in this dramatic, western thriller.      OWING HIS BOSS A BIG FAVOR, a former rodeo rider agrees to travel to Mexico to find his boss’ son. What he found was more than he had expected. With Clint Eastwood (Trouble with the Curve, The Mule) as Mike Milo, Dwight Yoakam (Crank franchise, Wedding Crashers) as Howard Polk, relative newcomer Ivan Hernandez as Lucas, Natalia Traven (Collateral Damage, Trade) as Marta and Fernanda Urrejola (Blue Miracle, Narcos: Mexico) as Leta; this movie had its touching moments. I felt the script was geared more to tugging at the viewer’s heart than digging deeper into the characters. The story was familiar, but I have to say the rooster made a big difference in the telling of it. I am not one to think about a person’s age, but for some reason I found Clint playing Mike a distraction. It was obvious when a double was being used and normally, I would not pay attention; however, with several scenes there was such a contrast between the 2 it stood out for me. The pacing of the story was slow and steady, but it was also predictable. There were not enough triggers here to consider a low rating for this picture, but there also was not much to warrant a higher rating. 

2 ¼ stars