Starring: Shari Albert, Maxine Bahns, Catharine Bolz, Connie Britton, Peter Johansen Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 03, 2000 Running Time: 98 minutes Theatrical Release Date: August 09, 1995
Amazon.com: Edward Burns's debut film as an actor-director makes a virtue of its limited budget in the same way John Sayles's The Return of the Secaucus 7 did in 1980. Stuck with limited technical means, Burns wisely puts his energies into a sophisticated story, knowing an audience couldn't care less about lighting problems if they're caught up in a terrific, character-driven movie with good actors. The tale concerns three adult brothers (Burns, Jack Mulcahy, Mike McGlone) whose complications in love and problems with commitment are rooted in their common experiences in a violent, loveless family. Burns has a hang- loose style that keeps the film from getting drunk on intense drama. He sets up the emotional backdrop and lets the characters' lives speak for themselves. Moreover, this is a filmmaker who enjoys life too much to spread any more misery; Burns delights as much in the things that aren't necessarily good for people--illicit lovers, castration anxiety, too much time with one's family, too much beer--as those things that are. The results are frequently very funny. --Tom Keogh
Wonderful Film. I love all of Ed Burns' films. This one is a must have for your DVD collection. You really feel as though you know the family in this film. It sweeps you right up and keeps your attention until the end.
A good "How to" of Irish-Americans I saw this movie when it first came out and liked how it was able to present Irish-American men in a different way than most Hollywood movies. For once, there wasn't the big fight scene, no "Danny Boy", no bad accents. Also, it presents soem of the same issues as the book "Limbo," namely guys who grow up blue collar but who end up in white collar jobs and how they still have blue collar values and thought processes and dealing with the people now referred to as "Bobos" ie: the upper middle and upper class with their code words and informal rules that most of don't have a clue about. I liked the movie and could definitely relate to many of the stories presented here.
I hate talk fests, especially this one.... I really don't like talky films. They are rarely cinematic, and just come across as an extended TV sitcom. The Brothers McMullen is just dull, dull, dull. The film is way too long, mainly because the conversations are just so BORING. Burns is a good actor, but he's not a very good director. He has no sense of composition. Burns is a poor man's Kevin Smith, in that Smith has no sense of composition either, but Smith's dialogue is much more livelier than Burns's ever will be (I'm not a huge Smith fan, either). I really don't understand why people loved this film as much as they did, and why critics acted like it was the Citizen Kane of its era. If you really want to see decent talkfests, watch Clerks or some of Richard Linklater's films. Richard's films do maintain interest because the talk is interesting at least (but not always successful). Don't waste your time.
Close But No Cigar My true rating is more like 3.4 The good side of Burn's film is its low key, breezy humor, and its convincing world of Irish male characters (Burns and McGlone are especially effective) On the debit side is its stereotypical view of Catholicism, which takes away from the otherwise natural flow; and its fanatasy view of women characters who are too often cringingly compliant and in the case of the Bahns role almost too attractive for comfort (great that five women get sizeable roles, but not great that theirs are less complex than the three brothers they are made to be so AVAILABLE for)
Repression is not such a bad thing. If there is one independent film that has been praised too much, and for too long, it is this film. This is the story of three brothers as they deal with life and love. Director/Actor Edward Burns really tries hard to bring out a film with some strong family values, but fails miserably. Here is the really funny part. Instead of just letting a dead horse remain in the barn, Burns counters with producing and directing the SAME movie, except this time it is called She's the One. How did this happen?
I know this is a short review, but I didn't want to bother writing down everything I disliked about this film, so I just kept it short and sweet. Overall, I say skip this film. It was pointless and drab and proved that if at first you don't succeed; release another film with a different title with basically the same plot.
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