Brothers is a dumb comedy that’s just dumb enough to work. Not to be so dumb, it’s brilliant, as was the declaration in the Glass Onion, which Detective Blanc shot down with, “No, it’s just dumb.” I don’t think a film with a masturbating orangutan and golf cart chases was aiming for something profound within its absurd heist/road-trip script. While it’s not wild enough to garner heavy laughs or earnest enough to have a heart, there’s plenty to smile at in how an all-star ensemble embraces this farce.
It helps that the duo in this crime comedy is played by Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage, two actors who are so straight-faced they can deliver any goofy-ass line with stern confidence. They’re slightly mismatched brothers who grew up following in the footsteps of their thieving family. A botched job, however, leads to them parting ways. Brolin’s Moke settles down with a family while Dinklage’s Jady goes to prison. Upon being let out of prison, Jady wants to find out where dear old dad was buried for a chance to recover some expensive diamonds. With Moke low on funds and a kid on the way, he has no choice but to commit to one last heist and make it home for Thanksgiving.
As an absurd road trip picture, some ridiculous detours were mildly charming for going the extra mile of odd and gross. One such scene involves Jady revisiting an old flame, Bethesda Waingro (Marisa Tomei), who happens to be harboring an orangutan. While Jady and Bethesda bang out a deal for getting into a construction site, Moke is forced by the smoking orangutan into a handjob. Brolin is far from his role in Dune but rolls with the material without going over the top. A lesser comedic actor would be even over-the-top to fleeing the house with the horny primate, but Brolin doesn’t force the comedy here, mostly relying on his typical bluster. It mostly works.
There’s something admirable about a film that wants to cast Glenn Close as a washed-up thief, Cath Munger, trying to reconnect with her sons and swipe some diamonds she buried. She never plays up her role too hard and meshes in as quickly as her more complex role. To be fair, there isn’t much to this deceptive mama character, but Close finds some solid mannerisms that don’t make her mask seem as visible. If there’s one character who eats the scenery, it’s Brendan Fraser as the hot-headed cop Farful who hunts down Jady. He’s fun in an Elmer Fudd sort of way for how he seems to spit every anger-fueled rant towards the pair of thieves nearly but still crumbles when speaking with his conspiring Judge of a father, played by the late-great M. Emmet Walsh. They all understood the assignment and played up their roles just enough fun while not overstepping their comedic shortcomings. You don’t need to try too hard for a laugh in a scene where Moke, Jady, and Cath try to escape some angry golfers on a bulldozer. The sight itself is fairly funny, and there’s not much dialogue required, whereas a thoughtless one-liner could easily dull such a gag.
Brothers is a film that only works because of its strong cast and use of them to the best of their abilities. The heist story is nothing enticing and follows many familiar patterns, but it’s suitable for stringing along some colorful characters with mildly pleasing gags. I smirked and chuckled but never had that big laugh at something so uproarious. Maybe if there was weirder sex stuff with the orangutan, I would’ve performed a spit take, but that doesn’t seem possible with a film aiming for the Goldilocks Zone. In that sense, there’s an almost timid nature for a movie that features a thief family bonding over their dad’s corpse. There’s no Hamlet monologue or comical one-sided conversation to be had here. Only a nod is given when Jady admits his father is still cool in death, a fitting representation of the actors’ faith in this not-goofy-enough material.