The Rivals of Amziah King feels like it’s been made with love. It’s so alive, confident, boisterous; such a rich evocation of a tight-knit, small-town community.

A wilfully convoluted tall tale, the movie aims to give us a bit of everything, starting as a rowdy comedy, developing into a vigilante thriller, then shifting gears once more for the sentimental finish.

Matthew McConaughey is at his rascally best as a beekeeper, musician, fighter, dad and champion of misfits, but the scattershot movie runs away from him.

There’s rural dark poetry here, splashed with an indie touch, but it fails to impress, as the briskly edited first part of the film—its bluegrass swagger contributing little—proves to be a total snooze-fest.