| Title: | Movie Reviews and Discussion |
| Notice: | Please do DIR/TITLE before starting a new topic on a movie! |
| Moderator: | VAXCPU::michaud o.dec.com::tamara::eppes |
| Created: | Thu Jan 28 1993 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1249 |
| Total number of notes: | 16012 |
We saw Brothers McMullen last weekend and I am still trying to make up my mind about the film. It is basically about how a family of first generation Irish Americans in New York deal with the consequences of an abusive, drunken father. The pivotal characters are three brothers, ranging in age from about early thirties to early twenties. The opening scene is at a cemetery and the mother is telling the middle son that she is leaving to be with her first real love back in Ireland--this after burying her husband. For the rest of the film, the three brothers wrestle with issues involving emotional intimacy. At the end of the film, you are left with a very good idea of what the ramifications are on one's emotional and psychological well being of living with an abusive alchoholic parent. The film does not hit you over the head with these results. There is humor and freshness, mainly provided from the non-star cast. However, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered and requres a few quantum leaps to bridge some gaps in believability. Ed Burns (??anyone know anything about him??) wrote, starred, directed, and produced the film. He played his role with very flat affect--I do not know if that is what he intended but that is how he comes across. It is very clear that this movie is close to being autobiographical for him. He has something to say and he found the backing to say it. The other two young men who played his older and younger brother were ok--a little hammy at times. The women, on the other hand, had very interesting roles to play and all were very good actresses. I am sorry I cannot list any of their names--if I come across a cast listing I will include it later. There was no one in the movie that I recognized or had heard of before seeing this film. With all said and done, I liked the film but would not give it the high praise that has been expressed in the media. I guess I would give it 2.5 in a four star system. Since there are no visual reasons to see it on a big screen, maybe wait for it to come out on cassette. Maybe the smaller screen will enhance the story line and reduce it to the proper proportion. Ruth Ann
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 922.1 | LOW_budget: | MAL009::RAGUCCI | Sat Sep 02 1995 02:54 | 7 | |
he did the film on a budget like $25,000.00 ? I think?
BR
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| 922.2 | PCBUOA::BELLOWS | Sun Sep 03 1995 18:07 | 18 | ||
Saw this film this w/e. Agree with your assessment about not living up
to the praise.
But, I think it was more than a story about the effects of living with
an alcoholic, abusive father. It was also about growing up Irish
Catholic and dealing with the guilt, fear of intimacy, fear of sex,
fear of sexually agressive women, basically fear of anything that
involved emotion and, uh, maturity. I think Ed's character was flat
emotionally, so it's no wonder that he played him that way. I was
wondering, though, why none of the sons was an alcoholic. They
certainly were all in denial.
I'm not sure whether I liked this film. I think it had its moments,
but my days of tolerating or enjoying dysfunctional, fucked-up Irish
Catholic men are long gone, so I had NO sympathy for any of these men.
So it's hard for me to judge the film.
b2
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| 922.3 | Brothers McMullen | TNPUBS::MARCO | Fri Sep 08 1995 20:21 | 11 | |
Yes, I agree. It does have to do with all those facets of Catholic Irish men. I remember being surprised that men in the 90s can still demonstrate a lot of those old stereotypic behaviors. I kept thinking that it was a movie from the 50s and was continually surprised to find that it was a movie of our times. I also heard on the NPR about Ed Burns. He made the movie with a loan from his father and a lot of notes to pay back the various artists and crafts people after the movie was released and started to make money. The total budget was estimated to be about $500,000 with only about $25,000 in real cash upfront. Ruth Ann | |||||
| 922.4 | ..and it's supposed to be okay... | SHRCTR::SCHILTON | Sacred cows make the best hamburger | Mon Sep 09 1996 12:13 | 11 |
I rented this over the weekend (along with From Dusk Til Dawn and
Heat...what a variety, huh?!) and really liked it. It is worth
all the praise it's gotten. I liked the idea that this Irish
Catholic young man made a film about the trouble some Irish
Catholic, young .. or.. men, in general, have with relationships,
commitment, etc.
It's too bad that Jennifer Aniston will probably keep me from
seeing his new film.
Sue
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| 922.5 | BUSY::SLAB | Do ya wanna bump and grind with me? | Mon Sep 09 1996 13:51 | 9 | |
>It's too bad that Jennifer Aniston will probably keep me from
>seeing his new film.
Why, are YOU dating her that night also?
This could be more fun than I thought.
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| 922.6 | ..and I thought she was kidding!! | SHRCTR::SCHILTON | Sacred cows make the best hamburger | Mon Sep 09 1996 14:41 | 1 |
*YOU'RE* the friend she wanted to bring along?! | |||||