In “Brothers,” Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage play adult twins, Moke and Jady Munger, who’ve been criminal accomplices ever since their jewelry-heisting mom abandoned them as kids.
You hear the pitch for director Max Barbakow’s follow-up to his 2020 Sundance phenom “Palm Springs,” and it’s fair to assume that the two actors’ mismatched appearances will be the source of the laughs. Screenwriters Macon Blair (“The Toxic Avenger”) and Etan Cohen ( “Tropic Thunder”) have credits that suggest as much, while Hollywood has a history of turning out “high-concept” comedies like “Twins,” in which Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito played long-separated (and far-from-identical) siblings.
It comes as a relief to find that the gap in stature between Moke and Jady is not at all the difference that “Brothers” intends to focus on. Rather, it’s their mild-versus-wild personalities and polar-opposite life goals that keep these siblings squabbling well into their 50s. After decades of assisting Jady in petty crimes, Moke has decided to clean up his life, holding down a degrading job and preparing to welcome a little “Blueberry” into the world with his wife Abby (Taylour Paige). Meanwhile, the instant Jady gets out of prison, the troublemaker with a handlebar moustache shows up with a plan to lead Moke astray.
Now that he’s free, Jady has no intention of going clean. In fact, his early release is contingent on a bad deal with a shady prison guard (Brendan Fraser), who’s counting on Jady to recover a stash of Rockefeller-caliber emeralds his mom stole many years earlier. The timeline’s a little wonky in “Brothers,” suggesting the screenwriters didn’t know who would play the title pair and once Brolin and Dinklage were attached, couldn’t be bothered to adjust the script (except one gag, where a security guard mistakes a hoodie-wearing Jady for a “kid” from behind).
The brothers have been ultra-protective of one another ever since they were ditched by their mom all those years ago — enough so that “big” brother will risk his marriage to help Jady with one last score. Without fully realizing their objective, Moke lies to Abby about the reason for their two-day road trip and sets off for what we can only hope will be more amusing than the dull Thanksgiving meal that awaits him with the in-laws. Apart from being sexually assaulted by an orangutan, however, it all feels pretty standard.
With “Palm Springs,” Barbakow shared story credit on a really smart script, one that found fresh wisdom (and refreshing irreverence) in the overplayed “Groundhog Day” formula. “Brothers” also resembles countless films that have come before — in this case, dimwit rural crime capers, from “Raizing Arizona” to “Logan Lucky,” but also/especially the mid-2000s sitcom “My Name Is Earl” — but lacks the original spin or improv-ready leads that might have set it apart.
If Jady’s objective is to retrieve the emeralds his mother stole, it seems like he should be trying to enlist her help, not his brother’s. Sure enough, Cath resurfaces, first seen in the prologue by Jennifer Landon and later played by a deliciously against-type Glenn Close, whose red-haired Southern chutzpah suggests Reba McEntire with a larcenous streak. In any case, it’s a complete reversal of her “Reversal of Fortune” character and just one of the movie’s surprising supporting characters.
Wide-eyed officer Farful is the kind of role you could imagine Fraser taking if he hadn’t just won an Oscar. There’s also a corrupt local judge (and Farful’s father) played by M. Emmet Walsh, in what could be a shotgun-toting reprise of his character from “The Jerk,” and a curious cameo from Marisa Tomei, as a gold-toothed, aura-reading weirdo. Apparently, her character struck up some kind of pseudo-spiritual correspondence with Jady in prison, which the pair now plan to consummate … while her pet orangutan has his way with Moke in the other room.
While the entire ensemble comes across fully committed to roles that are well beneath them, it’s not at all clear what the point was in presenting the Moke and Jady characters as twins. Two weeks ago, a different Prime original — that one a tepid thriller called “Killer Heat” — featured identical twins who use their matching looks to switch places. That may be the oldest trick in the book, but it makes more sense than “Brothers,” which does nothing especially unique with the premise.
“Brothers” opens in limited release on Oct. 10, then releases globally on Prime Video on Oct. 17.
