Cheap The Brothers (DVD) (Morris Chestnut, Shemar Moore) (Gary Hardwick) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Brothers

This movie is weak, and one of my greatest complaints is that the audience is not given any sense of how much time is supposed to have elapsed. One minute, Jack's parents are divorced, but still getting it on on the DL, but somehow they wind up getting remarried. Terry dumps his fiance 2 weeks before the wedding, but they manage to stay together. Puhleeze. It does have its funny moments thanks to the hilarious D.L. Hughley, but I was disappointed in the overall product.

And finally, why is it that Black films have to be so extreme? We either get the hood flicks filled with povert and despair, or the buppie flicks where everyone is gorgeous, professional, paid and shallow. How about something about the bulk of us who are somewhere in the middle?

Memo to Hollywood: no more Black wedding flicks please. Some of us have exhaled and are ready to go the next level. There is more the life than chasing tail, obsessing over relationships and hanging with the fellas/girls. I'd love to see some of that on the big screen.

A great movie that doesn't give in to cliches...
OK, I've seen this DVD twice, and I'll probably see it again. It's an intelligent, very funny look at the friendships (and love lives) of four professional black men searching for meaning as they near the age of 30. It's great to see black males portrayed as something other than gang-banging homeboys with bandanas in lowriders! (I'm white, BTW...) The four "brothers" get together once a week and shoot hoops and talk about their lives, loves, frustrations, fears and dreams. Woven throughout the movie, these hoops get-togethers tie the film together as we see the brothers go their different ways and deal with love, lust, temptation, marriage (one of 'em is married and another is about to jump the broom), and relationships. Just as funny, though, is the perspective given women. They are allowed a fair share of screen time so we get their perspective too. The movie flows at a nice pace and the one-liners sometimes come so fast you miss 'em. The second time around I caught a bunch I missed the first time, and I'm sure the third time around I'll catch some more. All the performances are top-notch and, again, it's sooooo refreshing to see a movie in which African American men and women don't all inhabit South Central and carry weapons. Brothers is a refreshing, funny, intelligent film -- and perfect to watch snuggled up with the one you love, because though it's about African Americans, love knows no color and we can ALL relate to some of the humor in this movie. THUMBS UP, baby!

Oh brother.....what a disappointment this movie is.
The Brothers tries to copy Waiting to Exhale. However that film adaptation made the same mistake this film makes: The four men do not become characters who tell their own stories; they become caricatures of types of black men we all know. These stereotypes include the misogynist, the womanizer, the family man and the nice guy who finishes last. If these are the good brothers then I'm worried. Most of these guys only cared about money, clothes, cars and sex. I wanted some dimension to their personalities that would make them into real people onscreen.
There was a great story here sadly, the writer couldn't tell it because the shallow producers decided to show pretty pictures of handsome actors wearing expensive designer clothes driving nice cars living in the lap of luxury. I wondered where the character development was. The relationships the Brothers have with the each other seemed contrived. These actors never bonded like "Brothers." There was no chemistry between them; the only thing they had in common was the paycheck they got for this film. "Brother" means someone you're very close to; I didn't get that feeling watching these four guys onscreen.
The relationships these "Brothers" have with the women in their lives seemed convoluted as well. Falling in love in this film happens overnight; there is no natural progression to the romance. Morris Chestnut's character meets Gabrielle Union in the park, in one frame they meet and the next they're in bed and in another they're in love. Their big conflict: She used to date his Father-come on! Shemar Moore's character is saying he's a reformed womanizer and is getting married after having a two-month relationship! He gets cold feet and his jilted lover comes back to attack him with a gun in the climax of the film. DL Hughley says he wants to divorce his wife for not orally pleasuring him. Bill Bellamy's character is a misogynist because his mother treated him badly. I kept waiting for the stories of these brothers to get interesting but they went nowhere at all.
I found a surprising amount of misogyny in the undertones of this movie. Why were all the women dressed in low-cut belly baring shirts? Why did the DL Hughley character feel he should divorce his wife because he wanted oral sex? Why were all the girlfriends dressed so sexy in most of the scenes? Where was the respect for the sisters? I'd like to have seen some balance in this film; show us some positive images of strong black women standing next to the images of positive black men.
I hate to give this film a bad review. I know everyone who worked on it was trying to create a positive message about responsible black men. However the whole movie comes off as shallow and half-hearted. I give props to DL Hughley, Shemar Moore Morris Chestnut, Bill Bellamy, Gabrielle Union, Tamala Jones, Marla Gibbs and the rest of the cast for their work on this film, but I really expected the writer, producers and director to do a better job with this film. Rent if you really have to see it.