I bet I can tell most people all they need to know about The Brothers Solomon just by giving them one piece of information - It was written by a writer from Saturday Night Live. This movie is a lot like an episode of SNL in that out of the whole thing, there are only a couple of funny parts and the rest was just ridiculous. This movie didn’t even make a whole million dollars at the box office, and that’s beyond pathetic.

This movie stars Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Will Forte (an SNL writer who also wrote this movie) and was directed by Bob Odenkirk, who also used to write for SNL. It’s about two brothers who are socially inept beyond all reason, and they are trying to have a child before their father, played by Lee Majors, dies. There’s a love story subplot in there somewhere, but most of the movie is like watching a bad episode of Perfect Strangers where they go to a sperm bank.

I could tell this movie was going to suck just from the opening credits, because they actually used the Comic Sans MS font in the titles! I hate that font! It’s the bane of the Internet when people use it on website, and I’ve always thought it to be highly unprofessional. You can tell by the crappy looking title sequence in this movie that it’s a very low budget feature. I watched half of this movie one night, then watched the rest the following evening. I couldn’t take it all in one sitting because it was putting me to sleep with boredom.

So how socially inept are the Solomon brothers? In one scene, Forte’s character meets a girl’s father, then shakes the man’s hand and leans in to kiss him on the lips. When he pulls back, a nasty little string of spittle hangs between their lips. In another scene, they are both sitting in a car at a playground and trying to coax little girls into the car so they can take them out for ice cream. They aren’t pedophiles, though. They actually want to take a kid out for ice cream just to see what hanging out with a child is like. When the police show up to ask what they are doing, their detailed explanation is actually kind of funny, but in a very creepy non-PC way.

Most of the jokes in this movie don’t work that well, or go on for way too long. There’s one part where Arnett’s character has the hots for a girl who lives in the same building, and one day he finds her in the hot tub outside. When she climbs out, he leans over and actually slurps up the water left from her footprint. In another scene, Arnett sets up a picnic in the hallway of their building, then invites the girl to join him. When she turns him down to go on another date, the scene goes on way too long as he sits down on the floor and starts to eat. It’s just like a bad episode of SNL where they try to be more ridiculous than funny.

I wanted to like this movie because I thought Will Arnett was so funny in Arrested Development, but there was just too much about The Brothers Solomon not to like. It’s only mildly funny, and more dumb than funny. Don’t waste your time unless you still watch SNL.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age