Absolutely the worst movie.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The Brothers (2001): Dir: Gary Hardwick / Cast: Morris Chestnut, Bill Bellamy, Shemar Moore, D.L. Hughley, Gabrielle Union: Effective drama about strong bond by four friends that is threatened with evaporation by women. One of them is getting married so they assemble on the basketball court to discuss old glory days. Director Gary Hardwick brings great insight and creates realistic characters with depth. On the down side it is easily predictable where each individual or relationship will result in obvious conclusions. Morris Chestnut plays a lawyer who falls in love with a woman who had a previous fling with his father. Shemar Moore is engaged but has cold feet. D.L. Hughley is married but sexually frustrated with his wife, which sometimes leads to amusing moments particularly in dialogue. Bill Bellamy drinks because he is afraid of commitment but he certainly isn't afraid of an active dating life. They all carry baggage but their bonding friendship is their escape as they vent their frustrations. The budget is not overwhelming, which gives the film the appeal of a standard drama often made for TV. Beyond that the screenplay effectively details these characters to where viewers may relate. Despite its predictable outcomes the film is a detailed look at four lives and the changes they made and the friendships that draw them together. Score: 8 / 10

Four professional young black men have a strong friendship that has lasted through relationships and work – even if sometimes it just means getting together for hoops and then drinks at the club. Jackson has commitment issues, Derrick is married, Brian is out for bodies only while Terry is respected for his sexual exploits. So when Terry announces his engagement to new girlfriend BeBe it is met with a mixed reception – cynicism, disbelief and happiness. As Terry prepares for his wedding, the others are having their own relationship issues that will brings changes to all of their lives.It is rare to find a film about a group of black men where the only clear sight of a gun is in a white woman's purse and is met with a black man asking it to be removed from his house. Such is the overwhelming force of gangsterisms, guns and machoisms in black culture that I felt I was almost duty bound to see a film that tries something different. However "different" is no guarantee of quality and indeed this film is frustratingly uneven and inconsistent. The basic plot offers a good chance to get inside the heads of four men (regardless of colour) and at times it manages to do this in interesting ways as well as providing some genuinely funny and reasonably realistic banter. However for every moment that is like this there seems to be two where it'll head off into sentimentalism, soap opera drama or outright dumb plot device. It is a shame because generally the film is distracting mush that isn't too sentimental but is still basic to the point where it washed over me – it was only these bad moments that stuck in my throat for one reason or another. The conclusion is suitably mushy and is a fine summary of the film – unconvincing, mushy, unlikely, melodramatic but still reasonably fun forgettable stuff.The cast are mixed but mostly match the level of the material by being predictable and a bit unimaginative. Chestnut is probably the best of the cast and makes for a nice leading man – good looks, a bit of charm and the ability to say his lines naturally all help. Hughley is funny and, although he doesn't make a convincing character and is a bit of a caricature but is still fun and his scenes have energy. Bellamy and Moore are somewhat non-events, with the latter very wooden and failing to make an impression on me. The females are generally young and attractive but lack the material served up to the men (which itself isn't that great). Union is sexy but her character doesn't convince and she doesn't know what to do with it. Jones works well with Hughley but Ali, Dalian, Lewis and others generally just hang around with basic lines and no characters to speak of – Ali in particular gets nothing to work with and seems to be there just to draw a laugh from hearing the innocent young Fresh Prince star talking about her "pu**y".Overall then a distracting and reasonably amusing film that has some good moments but annoys in the ease with which it just slips into sentimental melodrama etc. The performances are mixed and none of them really help lift the material to something that could have been amusing and interesting. Forgettable fluff that isn't bad but just generally isn't that good.

It was refreshing to see the male perspective on screen. Morris Chestnut is a heartthrob and came across with depth in this movie. Women tend to think we know but really we are not close. The movie made a strong statement about love and lasting relationships. Young couples both married and single need to see this message portrayed on the big screen. Movies of this nature inform our concepts of the family and what makes love worthwhile. I am a big fan of Gabrielle Union and thought she also did a fine job. Her character was witty and full of courage. Gary Hardwick has defined for himself a sure foundation in black film directing which sets the standard for all things wholesome. While it remains to be seen what he shall be, this movie spoke to the ability he has to use the big screen to tell the African American story in modern day terms. The genre is a guide for responsible and serious life decisions on issues of friendship in particular and relationships, in general.

I really though that The Brothers was a wonderful and positive movie. We as African Americans complain so much about what the black male isn't doing or what he's not being allowed to do, when he finally does something positive what do we do? We don't support him because we're to busy saying what he did wrong and not supporting what he did right. In my opinion the movie was excellent and something i'm sure alot of guys can relate to. I give Gary Hardwick two thumbs up for directing and writing an excellent movie.