Fresh and Exciting

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Circumstances lead to three adult brothers moving in together and getting deeply involved in each other's love life in this independent drama from Edward Burns. As per 'Sidewalks of New York', which Burns would later helm, 'The Brothers McMullen' is a dialogue heavy-movie and at a fascinating one at that, full of naturalistic conversations and banter that makes it seem like the three leads really are brothers. While each brother has different romantic circumstances (one is a confirmed bachelor; another is scared of committing to his long-term girlfriend; the third is married) they all finding themselves battling their devout Catholic upbringing while trying to avoid being in the same situation as their mother - who endured a loveless marriage before eloping after their father died. As a narrative, there is not exactly a lot driving 'The Brothers McMullen', but the film suffices well as a portrait of three very human characters bouncing off one another and making their own choices despite each having the same upbringing. There are several memorable conversations (a banana representing manhood in particular) and the stringy background music suits the material well. One could complain about the female characters being less well fleshed out than their male counterparts, however, this is, after all, a film about brotherhood and the mixed merits of brotherly advice.

Three Irish Catholic brothers from Long Island struggle to deal with love, marriage, and infidelity.This film definitely has the feel of a 1990s independent movie. That is meant as a compliment. Edward Burns may not have received as much attention as Kevin Smith or Quentin Tarantino, but he still made an impact with this film and won at Sundance. Like the other two, he drove the film home with dialogue -- always the way to go on a limited budget.The story itself is not that interesting, but the interactions between the brothers is. They have different views on their Catholic faith, which affects how they handle their relationships. And, as is often the case, love and passion tend to have a stronger pull than religion when put to the test.

Barry and Patrick move back into their old house owned by their third brother, Jack. They each deal with true love, marriage, and infidelity respectively. Whenever you see that dreaded buzzword "highly acclaimed" or worse "darling of critics", you'd be best advised NOT to get your hopes up. If you do you'll be let down time and time again. Such is the case with this film as well. If however you go in expecting a mediocre movie you're still be let down but not nearly as much. This starts off OK, but gets too long winded. And whenever a character has an internal monologue it becomes laughably bad. Overall I wouldn't want to spend time with anyone in the film. So in that way it's like Seinfield, but minus the laughs. However, it still is good for an indy film.My Grade: C+ Where I saw it: Starz Classics

Spoilers herein.I suppose we should all celebrate when anyone is able to pull off a first production that doesn't embarrass.But that is faint praise, and this is pretty thin stuff. I could find no interesting element in it, save the self-reference. It is a first time screenplay about the creation of a firsttime screenplay. If not overly clever, that enfolding is especially natural here, using a subtext of the Church as the rules for plays. As with his screen avatar, Burns breaks the dogmatic rules, but only in ways that follow the popular convention. The result is a miscarriage.