“The Last Rodeo” is a sentimental family melodrama set in cattle country against the backdrop of championship level rodeoing.

It’s a decent showcase for three of the very best character actors in the business, although its predictability, slow pace and soap operatic touches keep it from getting out of its own way.

That’s a key component of competitive bull riding — the dismount, getting out of your own and the bull’s way. Good stuntwork and passable editing have to convince us that a 50something cowboy can manage decades after his heyday.

McDonagh, a veteran heavy (“Walking Tall,” TV’s “Tulsa King,””Yellowstone”) and tough-guy support (he was “Dum Dum Dugan” in the Marvel/”Captain America” franchise), has found a home in cowboy hat roles and the faith-based films (“Homestead”) of Angel Studios.

As Joe Wainwright, he’s perfectly credible as a Texas rancher and long-retired rodeo rider whose ranch has shrunk and whose life these days is filled with shoeing horses to make ends meet, and training the next generation of bull riders.

Those new riders include his grandson Cody (Graham Harvey), who rides bulls against his momma’s wishes. She (Sarah Jones) would be happier if the kid made his name in Little League.

But a baseball that pops him behind the ear has Cody vomiting and dizzy. And as much as Grandpa would have him and his mama shake it off, even telling the doctor “I’ve had my share of those,” medical protocols have the boy tested, and that’s when they find the tumor.

Joe lost his wife to a similar form of cancer years ago. With what’s left of the ranch mortgaged, there’s only one way to cover that which mother Sally’s insurance won’t — a big prize-money “Legends” rodeo competition in Tulsa, where the best riders of today are to be tested against the “legends” of the sport.

That would include bull riding, where Billy Hamilton (Daylon Ray Swearingen) is king. Can a 50something “legend” who hasn’t ridden since his “accident” on his last ride 15 years before even hang on for eight seconds?

“You got some pins in your back,” his old rodeo mate Charlie (folksy Mykelti Williamson of “Forrest Gump” fame) drawls. “Your hands is old. Your eyes’ probably bad. And your mind is done started ridin’ south.”

In other words, sure. Let’s go for the $750k prize, with the top three finishers winning a Ford pick up as well, which Charlie could use for helping Joe prep.

Christopher MacDonald is in fine form as the old school hustler/rodeo promoter who’s got to be convinced this beat up relic deserves a shot.

Irene Bedard is Charlie’s better educated, philosophical wife.

The film’s point of view puts Joe and Charlie on the road to Tulsa, with the kid facing increasingly dire surgeries, with just enough time between them for him to Facetime Gramps and tell him “Kick his ass” in his contest with the cocky Billy Hamilton.

There’s virtually no “training” time, and the road trip of reminiscences between the two old friends is treated as charmless filler.

The script narrows its focus to the point where we meet no other “legends” of bull riding. Apparently, the other veterans of the sport have the sense to know that getting off the bull is where a body truly shows its age and arthritic limitations.

The other riders are punks prone to bullying (and amateurishly played), the competition predictably handled and the sentiment — this was co-written and directed by Jon “Fried Green Tomatoes” Avnet — is laid on thick in a weeper that never quite gets us there.

The script struggles with the math it would take to make the 60ish McDonough a “legend” of years of rodeo riding, and a war-in-Afghanistan vet, where he and Charlie met. Apparently.

But those components, like the military color guard at the rodeo and the camo-clad chaplain who leads the attendees in prayer, are necessary as conservative, rural America virtue signaling has become a big part of the Angel Studios brand.

“The Last Rodeo” has a rich milieu to work in. But a generic, formulaic script makes the pace feel even slower than it is. The stakes are high, but it’s hard to believe that odds are, this old cowboy won’t successfully draw to an inside straight.

If you want a rodeo movie that makes you feel the toll this rough-and-hard-tumble sport takes on body and soul, stream “The Rider.” All “The Last Rodeo” offers is a slow ride into a sunset that seems preordained, with all the edge and conflict and suspense rubbed off.

Rating: PG, fisticuffs, mild profanity

Cast: Neal McDonagh, Mykelti Williamson, Sarah Jones, Irene Bedard, Daylon Ray Swearingen and Christopher MacDonald

Credits: Directed by Jon Avnet, scripted by Jon Avnet, Neal McDonagh and Derek Presle . An Angel Studios release.

Running time: 1:55