It may be superficial and predictable, with special effects bloated out of all proportion, but this western fantasy from Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld is still good-natured fun thanks to the winning charisma of Will Smith and some fabulous Jack-in-the-Box gadgetry. Little more than Lethal Weapon in the Old West, shaken and stirred with a touch of James Bond, the plot has Smith and Kevin Kline as mismatched US Secret Service agents using anachronistic contraptions and fancy disguises to stop mad genius Kenneth Branagh from assassinating President Grant (Kline again). The script is remorselessly smutty, the one-liners are below average ("No more Mr Knife Guy") and the giant mechanical spider climax endlessly drawn out, but the wildly inventive gizmos (the best being the metal collars that attract magnetic blades) give entertainment value and draw a shield over the numerous flaws.

Legless Southern inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President Ulysses S. Grant. Only two men can stop him: gunfighter James West and master-of-disguise and inventor Artemus Gordon. The two must team up to thwart Loveless' plans.