Damsel fiddles around with the Western to mixed results. Narratively, the Zellners are always looking to zag, and while that leads to some surprising passages, not all of them are safe. Instead, they often spill into dead ends.

Damsel may not meet your expectations, but it will still make you laugh.

A delight that doesn't always get it right, but never needs saving.

The Zellners are certainly assembling an oeuvre that's distinctly their own, utterly unafraid to veer off the beaten path to their quirky characters' hearts' desire.

The film overall is a fun tale if you're not a die-hard traditional Western fan. But the story doesn't diminish its predecessors; it's clear there are parts of it that revere the genre.

Damsel manages to import any number of modern notions into a surprisingly traditional western structure, recognising the appeal of the genre while not being afraid to steer it into some distinctly modern channels.

Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson are seemingly having a lot of fun on this project, and in turn, so are we.

What kept me smiling right through this overturned odyssey is that the men in it aren't brave pioneers or scary outlaws or any such thing - they're incorrigible nerds, a century before the word was coined.

Pattinson shows he can also play a more sympathetic type of galoot - even crooning a pie-eyed love ballad called Honeybun, which Jonathan Richman might have rejected as too jejune.

The Zellner Brothers, David and Nathan, deliver plenty of quirk but little punch in this frontier tale filled with reprobates, rascals, and one adorable mini-horse named Butterscotch.

David and Nathan Zellner have crafted an anti-western, lovingly poking fun at its foundation while slyly pulling the rug under the audience in humorous, forward-thinking, and genre-redefining fashion.

But Damsel's real standout is [Mia] Wasikowska, who displays a steeliness as Penelope that's initially surprising but then becomes one of the film's driving forces.

Damsel is a good film, particularly because of its acting and originality, but falls short of greatness.

Damsel is both on-point and one-note: a curiosity without much going for it beyond its progressive flipping of script.

I was alternately delighted and irritated, though mostly a very happy camper.