Brothers is a heist comedy that works, thanks to its phenomenal cast, plot twists, and "poetic" moments.
An unprecedented - very crazy - Glenn Close with the transformative talent of Arsène Lupin, two twin brothers united by a special bond with an ingenious scoundrel, a lap monkey, and a daring bulldozer chase on a golf course. But above all Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, and stars like Glenn Close, Brendan Fraser, and Marisa Tomei who play truly eccentric characters, are the success factors of Brothers: the unmissable comedy directed by Max Barbakow available on Prime Video from October 17, 2024.
Brothers – “Thieves are born, brothers are made”
The feature film begins with an “expressive” sequence to the tune of Walk Right Now: a young mother has just robbed a train with her partner, and the two are already being chased by the police before leaving for Mexico with the loot (a small pile of emeralds) she says goodbye to her children: Mike called Moke (Josh Brolin) and JT Munger “Jady” (Peter Dinklage). The little brothers have no news of their mother or the loot, so they are forced to put into practice the things they have learned “on the job”.
That is, they become criminals in their turn until one night an attempted theft fails due to the intervention of the police, who capture only Jady. Another five years pass before the man is released from prison "for good behavior", or rather due to the intervention of a corrupt judge - the father of a prison officer (played at best by Brendan Fraser) who continuously pressures Jady to find the precious stones stolen by his mother (Glenn Close). Overall, the cast and characterization of the characters work.
The director of Palm Springs creates a hilarious heist comedy but the film also works as a gripping adventure on the road, with twists especially when Brendan Fraser and Glenn Close appear. Everyone subverts the order of our expectations. We are disoriented by the role entrusted to Close and an "easily impressionable" Moke, the characters of Moke and Jady themselves show us that "thieves are born, brothers are made".
Brothers is a heist-comedy that works thanks to a phenomenal cast and its “poetic” moments
The screenplay for the feature film was written by Ethan Coen, and it’s obvious. The best line is entrusted to Fraser (“My dad thinks I’ll become a legend in the future”). But the entire cast is so phenomenal for a light and enjoyable heist-comedy – also intended for a streaming platform – that it almost seems like a waste. Surely, however, Prime Video will be able to enjoy the excellent result that this quartet of actors is bringing home.
The characters are a bit Fellini-esque and all half-witted
The brilliant dialogues, the excellent understanding, their impeccable performances, even in unthinkable scenes, in addition the screenplay that manages to make them appear profound despite the intrinsic superficiality of the subject. What else can I tell you? The narration, considered in a light story style, works and manages to also take up events taken from everyday life, to make fun of, that is, just as a comedy should, the defects of social roles (and here it does it a bit with everyone). In short, the real ape is there, but in Brothers, they are all half-witted characters (and also happy despite their misery, with a slightly Fellini-esque air), and Max Barbakow, after his debut with the wonderful Palm Springs, also gets this outing right.
Brothers: evaluation and conclusion
We have described our hour and a half of viewing pleasure: pure relaxation. Always chameleonic Close. Extraordinary Glenn. She has played them all but you will love her even more in this role of a scoundrel of a mother who loves crime a little more than her children. Her interpretation has something sublime, she is almost unrecognizable as the most irreducible of the irreducible.
Alongside her is Dinklage who loves to play a bastard (he got the most normal role!), a “clumsy” Brolin, and Fraser. The latter is the one who chose absolute stupidity and – at the same time – the most total challenge (which is not recommended, but he did it anyway). It is not easy to take your eyes off the Oscar-winning actor as he wanders around the small screen like a misfit Gulliver in a slightly less worrying way than in The Whale. His awkward character even manages to enter, sensibly, into our sympathies.