Brothers review – throwaway madcap comedy wastes a host of stars
Peter Dinklage, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei and Brendan Fraser are lost in this brief and silly Amazon caper about low-level criminalsOne thing among many that Joel and Ethan Coen seem to instinctively understand is the art of giving their characters funny names: when and how to drop something pleasingly ornate, when to pull back a little, how to toss them off so they don’t sound self-consciously ostentatious. It’s a delicate art; on paper, a character like Moke Munger (Josh Brolin) or his brother Jady (Peter Dinklage) might sound funny and distinctive. But if you’re not careful, your screenplay will soon be over-explaining them as childhood mispronunciations that stuck, and nonetheless surrounding them with other characters sporting similarly nonsensical names like Farful, Freddie Unk, or Uncle Crabcake. The differences between those monikers and genuine Coen creations like HI McDunnough (from Raising Arizona) or Burt Gurney (from Hail Caesar!) are as precise and important as the difference between, say, actual Coen brother Ethan Coen, and veteran screenwriter Etan Cohen, who has a story credit on Brothers – the new movie about Moke and Jady Munger pulling off one last job.Like Ethan Coen’s Drive Away Dolls from earlier this year, Brothers is a road-trip crime comedy. Unlike Dolls, it is not a consistently daffy delight, though it telegraphs those aspirations with its colorful backstories and wannabe-wry narration from Dinklage. Jady, just out of prison for a job the brothers pulled together, has been sprung by crooked, connected guard Farful (Brendan Fraser) on the condition that he cut him in on some missing loot long-hidden by the boys’ criminal mother. Moke, who escaped their last job unharmed, feels guilty about his brother’s time served, and wants to provide some extra money for his growing family; his wife Abby (Taylour Paige) is pregnant, and her well-heeled parents already suspect that he may not be able to provide for the baby. So the brash, scheming brother and the cautious, more emotional brother bicker through some cartoonish, outlandish, unfunnyish antics. A smoking ape is involved at one point. Continue reading...
admin
Peter Dinklage, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei and Brendan Fraser are lost in this brief and silly Amazon caper about low-level criminals
One thing among many that Joel and Ethan Coen seem to instinctively understand is the art of giving their characters funny names: when and how to drop something pleasingly ornate, when to pull back a little, how to toss them off so they don’t sound self-consciously ostentatious. It’s a delicate art; on paper, a character like Moke Munger (Josh Brolin) or his brother Jady (Peter Dinklage) might sound funny and distinctive. But if you’re not careful, your screenplay will soon be over-explaining them as childhood mispronunciations that stuck, and nonetheless surrounding them with other characters sporting similarly nonsensical names like Farful, Freddie Unk, or Uncle Crabcake. The differences between those monikers and genuine Coen creations like HI McDunnough (from Raising Arizona) or Burt Gurney (from Hail Caesar!) are as precise and important as the difference between, say, actual Coen brother Ethan Coen, and veteran screenwriter Etan Cohen, who has a story credit on Brothers – the new movie about Moke and Jady Munger pulling off one last job.
Like Ethan Coen’s Drive Away Dolls from earlier this year, Brothers is a road-trip crime comedy. Unlike Dolls, it is not a consistently daffy delight, though it telegraphs those aspirations with its colorful backstories and wannabe-wry narration from Dinklage. Jady, just out of prison for a job the brothers pulled together, has been sprung by crooked, connected guard Farful (Brendan Fraser) on the condition that he cut him in on some missing loot long-hidden by the boys’ criminal mother. Moke, who escaped their last job unharmed, feels guilty about his brother’s time served, and wants to provide some extra money for his growing family; his wife Abby (Taylour Paige) is pregnant, and her well-heeled parents already suspect that he may not be able to provide for the baby. So the brash, scheming brother and the cautious, more emotional brother bicker through some cartoonish, outlandish, unfunnyish antics. A smoking ape is involved at one point.
Continue reading...
