OhJoel and Ethan Coen have an intuitive understanding of the art of giving their characters funny names: when and how to drop something beautifully decorated, when to back off a bit, and how to dismiss them for being self-consciously pompous. It is a subtle art; On paper, a character like Mog Munger (Josh Brolin) or his brother JD (Peter Dinklage) can be fun and unique. But if you're not careful, your script will soon over-explain them as childish mispronunciations, even though they'll be surrounded by other characters with silly names like Farful, Freddie Unk, or Uncle Crabcake. The differences between nicknames like HI McDunnough (from Rising Arizona) or Burt Gurney (from Hail Caesar!) and Coen's actual works are as precise and important as the difference between Coen's real brother, Ethan Coen, and veteran screenwriter Ethan Coen. Brothers Story credits: Mock and JD Munger's new film about one last job.
Like Ethan Coen's Drive Away Dolls earlier this year, Brothers is a road trip crime comedy. Unlike Dolls, it's not a standard, sad game, although it conveys those aspirations with its colorful stories and Dinklage anecdotes. JD is released from prison on a job the brothers did together, lured by corrupt and connected cop Furful (Brendan Fraser) on the condition of getting a share of some lost loot long hidden by the boys' criminal mother. Mok, who emerged from his last job unscathed, feels guilty about his brother's time and wants to provide extra money for his growing family; His wife Abby (Taylor Paige) is pregnant and her wealthy parents already suspect that she may not be able to deliver the baby. So, the brash, manipulative brother and the cautious, overly emotional brother battle it out through some cartoonish, wacky, and fun antics. The smoking monkey intervenes at some point.
The monkey is really funny for a minute. The brothers have many temporary amusements; Director Max Barbakov, who made Palm Springs funny and moving, creates some timely scenes, like Dinklage and Brolin's accidentally coordinated escape scene. The script introduces some funny lines in between all the difficult and difficult things. (Why Dracula defeats the werewolf: “The werewolf is once a month, Dracula is all the time”). But the writing is far less inventive, vivid or extravagant than you might expect from a screenwriter. Megan Blair, collaborator of Jeremy Saulnier, who starred in Blue Ruin and wrote Hold the Dark.
It's unfair to expect a silly and ultimately tender family comedy to be anything like the gritty, unrelenting, dark thrillers Blair has worked on in the past. But what about one of those movies where Dinklage, Brolin, Marisa Tomei and the seemingly underused Glenn Closer give little benefit to their roles here? Brendan Fraser deserves to play a screaming big man in a proper Coen film or Ethan's silly solo efforts. Brothers credits the late actor M. Emmett Walsh for one of his final roles, Blood Simple and Rising Arizona, among his many credits.
None of this is enough to create a cult crime comedy from almost nothing. On its own diminutive terms, Brothers adequately passes Zippy off; Without the slow credits, it's about 83 minutes long, barely enough time to stop autoplay on Prime Video. What's strange is how much time he spends inadvertently drawing attention to his own overwritten and unthought of weaknesses.
