sol- 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.

btm1 I just finished watching this on TV. The story is about several weeks in the lives of three bothers. Circumstances (what they are is unimportant) have caused the two younger bachelor brothers to move in with their older married brother and his family. The script explores the relationships between three loving Irish Catholic American brothers, each with a distinctive personality, and the relationships each has with the women in their lives. It's about real love and romance (not the sappy romantic comedy type), fears of commitment, and the twists and turns these men go through in dealing with that aspect of their lives. Their Catholicism has a lot to do with the story. At one point Patrick says to his Jewish girl friend, "I go to Church every week; you go to Temple only once or twice a year." She replies, "Yes, but your religion is crazy." Although the most religious of the three, Patrick, goes against the Church's teachings in that he uses condoms; but, he worries about going to Hell should he commit other serious sin. Marriage to all of them means a life-long commitment. Their mother's life set the standard for them. She had lived 35 years in a forced, loveless marriage until her husband passed away. That freed her to go to the man she had been in love with when circumstances caused her to marry the boys' father. Abortion was out of the question, as was divorce.Ed Burns is credited with writing and directing the film and he also is very credible as the middle brother. While the entire cast made their characters seem real, the actor who in my mind stood out is Mike McGlone, who plays Patrick, the youngest brother who has a kind of altar boy personality. Perhaps Ed Burns' choice of camera angles gets some of the credit for making his performance particularly memorable, but McGlone brought something special to that part.

movieman_kev 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

soranno 1994 and 1995 saw a massive proliferation in romantic comedies that, in a mild sense were originally reminiscent of the classic romance comedies of the 1930's, 1940's and early 1950's. However, the similarities ended when an abundance of profanity and sexual dialogue were added to them as well as casts for the MTV generation. "The Brothers McMullen" is a prime example of all of this and not a very good one at all. Weak and contrived. Writer-director-star Edward Burns tries to be another Woody Allen but hasn't quite gotten there yet.