Based on Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, On Swift Horses opened at the US box office at number 14 on its opening weekend. The lacklustre performance, it grossed just over $500 000, probably tells you more about the quality of the film than any review can.

Set in 1950s California Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her husband Lee (Will Poulter) are looking to settle down after Lee’s return from The Korean war. However, things take a strange turn when Lee’s charismatic brother, Julius (Jacob Elordi) turns up and Lee suggests that the three of them should build a new life together in San Diego.

Things start to get pretty confusing when Julius moves to Las Vegas, where he finds employment in a casino and meets, and starts an affair, with Henry, a male co-worker. It’s from here that he has secret communications with Muriel who appears to have liking for the horse racing and the girl next door.

Nothing much really happens in On Swift Horses other than Muriel and Julius each having a same sex relationship behind the back of the unknowing and rather dim Lee.

On Swift Horses 50s settings look beautiful as does its young cast. Sadly, beautiful photography and pretty faces can’t sustain a story that’s ponderous to the point where it’s almost static.