In Brothers, Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage play adult twins who have been criminal partners since their jewel-stealing mother abandoned them when they were children.
You listen to a screening of director Max Barbakow’s follow-up to the 2020 Sundance phenomenon “Palm Springs” and brace yourself for the possibility that the cast’s mismatched looks will be the source of the laughs. Screenwriters Macon Blair (The Toxic Avenger) and Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder) have credits to suggest this, while Hollywood has a history of churning out “high-concept” comedies like “Stuck on You” and “Twins,” for those of Old enough to remember the ’80s movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito played long-estranged (and far from identical) siblings.
It’s comforting to find that the gap in status between Moke (Brolin) and Jady (Dinklage) is not at all the difference Brothers intends to focus on. Instead, it’s their mild-mannered versus wild personalities and polar opposite life goals that keep these siblings fighting well into their fifties. After decades of helping Jade with petty crimes, Mock decides to clean up his life, keep a demeaning job and prepare to welcome a little “Blueberry” into the world with his wife, Abby (Taylor Paige). Meanwhile, just as Jade gets out of prison, the handlebar-mustachioed troublemaker shows up with a plan to mislead Mok.
Now that he’s free, Jade has no intention of staying away from drugs. In fact, his early release is conditional on a bad deal with a suspicious prison guard (Brendan Fraser), who relies on Jade to recover a stash of Rockefeller-caliber emeralds stolen by his mother many years before. The timeline is a bit wonky in “Brothers,” suggesting that the screenwriters didn’t know who would play the lead duo, and once Brolin and Dinklage were linked, they couldn’t be bothered to tweak the script (except for one gag, where a security guard mistakes) Jade wearing a hoodie For “child” from behind).
The brothers have been extremely protective of each other ever since their mother abandoned them all those years ago – enough for the “older” brother to risk his marriage to help Jade get one last score. Without fully achieving their goal, Moke lies to Abe about the reason for their two-day road trip and heads off for what we can only hope will be more enjoyable than the boring Thanksgiving meal awaiting him with his in-laws. Aside from one of the twins being sexually assaulted by an orangutan, everything seems pretty normal.
With “Palm Springs,” Barbakow shared the story based on a really smart script, one that found new wisdom (and a refreshing irreverence) in the overdone “Groundhog Day” formula. “Brothers” also resembles countless films that have come before — in this case, lackluster rural crime films, from “Raising Arizona” to “Logan Lucky,” but also/particularly mid-2000s sitcom twenty “My Name Is Earl”—but it lacks the original threads or the improv-ready threads that might have distinguished it.
If Jade’s goal is to recover the emerald his mother stole, it seems like he should try to enlist. Ha Help, not his brother. Cath certainly makes a comeback, first seen in the lead by Jennifer Landon and later played by the deliciously anti-type Glenn Close, whose redheaded Southern chutzpah suggests Reba McEntire with a thief’s streak. However, this is a complete reversal of her character in “Reversal of Fortune” and one of the only surprising supporting characters in the film.
The wide-eyed Officer Farful is the kind of role you’d imagine Fraser taking if he hadn’t just won an Oscar. There’s also a corrupt local judge (Farful’s father) played by M. Emmett Walsh, in what could be a reprise of his character from “The Jerk,” and a bizarre cameo from Marisa Tomei, as a character with gold teeth. Aura of eccentric reading. Apparently, her character has set up some sort of pseudo-spiritual correspondence with Jade in prison, which the pair now plan to consummate… while her pet orangutan has his way with Mookie in the other room.
While the entire group seems fully committed to the roles far below them, it’s not at all clear what the point of presenting the characters of Moke and Jady as twins is. Two weeks ago, a different version of the original Prime — a light-hearted thriller called “Killer Heat” — featured identical twins who use their identical appearance to switch places. This may be the oldest trick in the book, but it makes more sense than “Brothers,” which doesn’t offer anything particularly unique in the premise.
“Brothers” opens in limited release on October 10, then will be released globally on Prime Video on October 17.