Writer/actor/director Jean-Claude La Marre's Gang Of Roses takes a traditional western revenge story and attempts something a little different with the tried and true formula by casting five non-Caucasian women in the lead roles. You might call it revisionist history, an interesting experiment in American folklore. The whole thing is set to a hip hop soundtrack, which won't come as a surprise to anyone who takes a look at the cast list as both Lil' Kim and Bobby Brown are featured prominently in the film.

A gang of outlaws is wreaking havoc in the frontier town of Flatridge. It seems they're looking for some buried treasure on the outskirts of town and they'll stop at nothing to get their hands on it. While on a spree in town one night, the end up killing a prostitute named Sally, but little do they know that Sally is the sister of Rachel (Monica Calhoun), a member of the infamous Rose Gang.

Rachel, obviously distraught by the loss of her sister, gives up on her recent religious conversion and sets out on her own path of vengeance after burying Sally. She figures the best way to take down the gang responsible for the murder is to put her own gang back together and sets out bringing together the members of the Rose Gang.

Eventually, once the old posse is back together, they reach Flatridge but as luck would have it, the outlaws, who are in cahoots with the town Sheriff, have taken over the town with the 'ok' from the local law enforcement officials. Not only do they have that to worry about, but they also have to find out if they can still work together, as some members of the gang may have more personal reasons for reuniting besides avenging Sally's death.

The whole movie is played so straight that it's almost impossible to take it seriously, even for a few minutes at a time. The lead actresses are wooden from start to finish, and believe it or not, the best thing about the movie is the performance from Bobby Brown (yes, that Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston's husband) as the sinister Left Eye Watkins. At least Bobby appears to be having a good time in his role, and you might actually be laughing with him and not at him (which I can't honestly say about the rest of the cast, who prance about in ridiculous cowgirl outfits and spouting off really painful one liners). Even throwing Mario Van Peebles into the mix can't help the film.

The film had potential though – Black Westerns have been made well in the past (Jim Brown made a few, like Take A Hard Ride and Kid Vengeance in the 1970s) and proved to be interesting and entertaining when done well. But Gang Of Roses suffers from truly terrible dialogue, bad action sequences, and laughable situations galore. One of the biggest flaws in the film is that the violence, which could have given the film a bit more of an edge, all occurs off screen. The girls are more than happy to pop a cap into anyone who gets in their way, but when they do, they point their guns out of the camera's view and it all occurs 'over there somewhere.' Not that violence is required to make a good film, it's not at all, but in this case it might have gone a little further to make the movie feel at least slightly more believable.

Overall though, Gang Of Roses is actually an entertaining film – the problem is that it's for the wrong reasons. If it were made as a comedy or a spoof, it would have worked but when a movie this bad is played this straight, it just ends up being unintentionally hilarious.

The DVD is presented fullframe, and overall the picture quality is decent. There aren't any compression problems, print damage is almost non-existent, and only some slight haloing is present during a few scenes. I'm not positive if fullframe is the correct aspect ratio for the film or not, but save for the fact that everyone gets shot off camera, the compositions appeared to be intact and properly displayed.

The English Dolby Digital Surround audio track is serviceable. It won't blow your speakers off the wall or anything but it's clean and clear and easy to follow. There are a few times when the soundtrack kicks in and your sub will surprise you a little bit when the bass hits, which results in a slightly livelier soundtrack than you might expect the film to carry.

There are two extras on the DVD. First up is the trailer, which actually represents the film fairly accurately. The second extra is a half hour long behind the scenes featurette that provides interviews with La Marre and most of the cast members. Oddly enough, this isn't advertised on the back of the case, but it is there. It more or less feels like an advertisement, but there are a few interesting moments to be found.

It's pretty hard to recommend this one as a serious film, and if that's what you're looking for, don't bother. Stay far, far away. But if you dig movies that are 'so bad they're good' then you'll probably find a lot to like about Gang Of Roses. To err on the side of caution though, I'd consider this one a rental, even for bad movie fans.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.