Blazing Hot Cowboy

Redford tries hard to create romantic tension in this contemporary rural Texas romance, but Lauren Sheridan, a recent widow returning to her small-town roots, and Kent Duval, a successful rancher and volunteer fireman with a Ph.D. (and painted-on, stereotypical Comanche heritage), are stereotypical stuff of “hot, sweaty dreams” that here never quite become convincing reality. Wildcat Bluff, Tex., is a sanitized version of a prairie cowtown that’s never seen a drought or a drop in cattle prices, and the many secondary figures who surround Lauren and Kent in their mating dance are likewise familiar. When they reunite years after their adolescent romance, sparks predictably flare up, fueled by memories of wild teenage kisses in the bed of Kent’s pickup. But Redford doesn’t seem able to conjure up convincing obstacles to reigniting that fire, instead relying on gushy sentimentality, as when Lauren’s four-year-old daughter, Hannah, meets Kent and shrieks, “Cowboy Daddy!” Readers will long for sizzle, but all that’s here is damply smoldering kindling. Agent: Elaine P. English. (Jan.)Inspirational