by hilary johnson
B+ 91 min. R
It’s not often, when going to the movies, that I find myself sitting in the best seat in the house. You know, that one seat in the very dead center of the theatre, with no one blocking my view and no close elbows to fight with for the arm rest. I could have even laid down had I wanted to. I could also take calls, didn’t even need to turn off my ringtone, and I could talk as loud as I wanted to. But why, you might ask? Well, it was a Monday matinee viewing of the new movie The Brothers Solomon. Not that I expected many people to show up, but I at least expected a few.
I was already a little wary coming to this movie. A movie about two socially and romantically deluded brothers (Will Arnett and Will Forte) who wanted to have a baby to save their comatose father (Lee Majors)? Kind of a stretch into the world of weird, but I was up for it. The empty theater started to raise some questions though. Was there a reason for the lackluster crowd?
Turns out, there really could be no good reason for someone to miss this movie. That is, unless you’re under the age of seventeen or don’t have a stomach for graphic sexual humor. This movie had me laughing so loud, all by my lonesome, that I was the one distracting myself. “Was that really that funny?” I would think after a bout of giggles brought on by the clever humor that always bordered on awkward or inappropriate. Yep, it really was that funny.
There was never a dull moment. Stemming from the same line of humor as The Forty Year Old Virgin, sexuality, or the lack thereof, was at the core of this film, which was directed by Mr. Show’s Bob Odenkirk and written by SNL’s Will Forte. However, it pushed past the coarse humor of Virgin and into something even more potentially depraved. Two adult brothers living alone with their comatose father, openly discussing their sex life on a regular basis? A naked shower scene that ends in a hug exemplifies the inappropriate ambiguity of the brother’s close relationship. They sleep next to one another in sleeping bags, and even discuss the content of their dreams…moist as they may be.
The theme song of the movie is John Parr’s ‘St. Elmo’s Fire.’ Throughout the film, the song is rendered to fit the mood of the scene, be it the enthusiastic original to match the cheesy grins and goofy dances of the optimistic brothers, or a downtrodden instrumental to enhance their trials and tribulations. The pop-tastic song is the perfect compliment to the tone of the movie, which is light, airy and ridiculous, but oh-so-endearing. The kind of thing you just can’t get out of your head. An unexpected hit.
From the baby-proofing of the house (think blow up bounce machine as the living room floor) to the endless chase for any girl’s attention (and the sly advances that make any girl cringe), this movie has enough juice to keep you cracking the whole time. It never takes it all the way to weird, but it stays right on the edge throughout the film. It leaves you laughing and allows you to really troop behind the characters. Instead of being freaked out, you find them affable and root for them the entire way.
The tongue-in-cheek grins that epitomized the naivety of the two main characters, John and Dean Solomon, allowed the movie to border on the absurd, almost the uncomfortable, but never crossed that line. Just when you thought their awkward humor had gone too far, suddenly they would throw out some normal dialogue, setting the movie back on track. There are moments of surreal intelligence that seem impossible coming from these bumbling brothers, but they’re real. Although not for the faint, this movie is rounded out, impossibly funny, and easy to get behind, figuratively speaking.
Next time around, I am positive the theater will be packed with eager viewers. The laughter will fill the theatre instead of echoing off the walls the way mine had. If this is your thing, go in with good expectations. You will not be disappointed.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
