This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Los Hermanos (The Brothers)
Plot Overview
The major women in the
lives of two step-brothers are putting them through some major changes.
Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) has been dumped by Sarah Marshall (Kristen
Bell) his girlfriend of 5½ years, and his step-brother
Brian (Bill Hader) is about to become a father & his wife Liz
(Liz Cackowski) a mother. Peter's social skills had atrophied when
he'd been too absorbed exclusively in Sarah, so he calls on Brian
to help him talk to women at a dive. The conversation seems to
be going well until Peter blurts out a proposition, and Brian tells
him to “pump the brakes.” The brake and gas are brother
pedals there on the floor to be stepped on, but Brian calls Pete his
“step-stranger” and tells him he's not normal.
The women in L.A. being fast, Peter over three weeks has a
series of one-night stands with some of them, but he can't shake thoughts
of Sarah. Brian encourages him to work on his puppet opera, “A
Taste For Love.” In it Dracula is well fed but the women he
picks up all die, and he cannot die, so he's unable to form a
relationship. On the other hand, he doesn't much remember the
girls in his past either. It's like that old man whose doctor informed
him he had cancer and Alzheimer's. He thinks about it a moment
and says, “Well, doc, at least I don't have cancer.” The
current girl drives out thoughts of past ones, so the man or monster
who plays the field doesn't have trouble forgetting. Liz affirms that
Brian doesn't remember any past girlfriend.
Peter takes a Hawaiian vacation
to get his mind off Sarah. At the desk he checks in behind a newly
wed couple Darald (Jack McBrayer) & Wyoma (Maria Thayer.) They're
Jack Mormons who've saved sex for the wedding night, a currently unpopular
practice that was once quite normal and still is for some people.
Limiting premarital sexual activity to kissy-face saves grief if one
must go through several potential partners along the way. In the
restaurant we hear a girl's excited acceptance of her beau's proposal.
And we see a number of Hawaiian weddings taking place backed by the ocean.
There's plenty of normal around if Peter wanted to pick up on it.
What he does get is Sarah
arriving at the hotel with her new flame in tow, rocker Aldous Snow
(Russell Brand,) and the concierge Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis) who
hangs out with his sorry self out of charity, but she has her own
baggage stomping around the island. Peter and Aldous go over “the
code of the ocean: you don't sleep with another man's
girlfriend.” Salvage law does in fact allow one to claim an
abandoned ship on the high seas, but if you board her while she's crewed,
that's piracy. If this movie had veered off on some kind of traditional
line, it would have made for a milder rating, but they went for drama.
Ideology
To help us sort out the love machinations there's a trope found in, (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.” Mundane non-human movements present their challenges to the observer as well as romantic ones. An eagle, well, we don't know when it will stop drifting on the air currents to swoop on something below. A serpent slithers on a rock helter skelter but gets where it's going. A ship is tossed by forces aloft and below.
Similarly this romance movie is counterpoised with difficult-to-track movements on land, sea and air. It doesn't have a serpent, but a Hawaiian cook Keoki (Branscombe Richmond) gets Pete to help him carry the food to the luau. It's a huge pig that must be butchered first with a Bowie knife and then transported hung by its feet on a pole that the two of them carry. Neat trick, that.
There's no scene of a ship, but we do have Pete the novice surfer on the same shoreline as his nemesis Aldous who's paddling about on his board. Somehow they are going to collide.
There's no eagle in the air, but there is a leap into the ocean from off a cliff, with some tense moments. It's tricky to figure out the course of a budding romance, too.
Production Values
“” (2008) was directed by Nicholas Stoller. It was written by Jason Segel who also starred in it, along with Kristen Bell and Paul Rudd. Co-stars include Bill Hader, Jack McBrayer, Liz Cackowski, Maria Thayer, Taylor Wily, Jonah Hill, and Da'Vone McDonald. There were cameos of William Baldwin and Jason Bateman. Very good performances were delivered by all. Mila Kunis was ravishing in her role as a transplanted Hawaiian.
MPAA generously rated it R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity. It's actually pretty gross both in the rated and unrated versions. The unrated version includes an extra scene of a yoga class with the ocean out the window as a backdrop: very peaceful. If you're seeing this movie for romantic, Hawaiian remembrances, I recommend watching the unrated version, because you'll get an extra Hawaiian wedding outside, whereas the rated version is no less gross.
The humor was off-putting by intention as it will appeal to our lower natures. Some of it was milked through repetition, which raised the run time (1 hour 51 minutes.) It was in part shot in O'ahu, Hawaii where the scenery was plenteous and beautiful. The rock music fit the theme.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This one went beyond what I'd call good taste, but to each his own. I'm sure some will like it. Otherwise, it was imbued with humor from several directions as well as island charm. Make up your own mind.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age or for queazy adults. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: Three amd a half stars out of five.
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