When I was on “Humble” Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson’s Internet radio show this past week I picked up a good tip on a current comedy movie. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Every two months I guest as their go-to TV critic, and inevitably Howard has seen way more news shows than I have.
This time he wanted to know if I had watched the Netflix movie “Little Brother.”
Now, comedy is an acquired taste but me and Howard seem to agree generally, on what makes us laugh. Lately it has been a return of sorts to gross-out humour, films that seem formulaic but have amped up the shock factor. This was true for me of the recent J-Lo and Brett Goldstein rom-com “Office Romance,” which I reviewed earlier. “Little Brother” seems cut from the same spotty cloth.
Directed by Matt Spicer, the film stars John Cena (“Peacemaker”) as real estate agent Rudy Landy, whose life seems pretty damn sweet. Married to an adoring wife (Michelle Monaghan), they live in a nice house with two teens. His career is going so well he drives a hot set of wheels.
On the eve of breaking into the real estate reality TV field, his life starts to unravel with the arrival of someone from his distant past – Marcus Pinchel (Eric André). They sort of knew each other as kids. Back then, Rudy stood up for Marcus as part of a local Big Brother program.
Nevermind that the set up is fairly lame. You have to buy that Marcus never forgot the kindness and affirmation he once got from playing a little one-on-one B-ball from the much cooler (and more fortunate) Rudy – even though Rudy wasn’t that cool at all. This is one of those films where a lot is based on one big misunderstanding. A side plot where Landy’s assistant (played by Sherry Cola) adds to the misunderstanding is such a whopper I’m not going to get into it here.
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It doesn’t matter. If the set up is just to get to the gags, it works as long as the gags deliver. Not all do here – this is no “Naked Gun” – but more than enough to say it is part of an encouraging trend.
Marcus immediately starts wrecking Rudy’s perfect life, starting with his car. Now, casting Eric André here is key. He has aced playing A-holes for as far back as when he was tormenting Jay Baruchel in Man Seeking Woman (2015-17) Being liked was never André’s main career objective. It always seemed more important to be awkward first, and he’s still very good at that.
This is what I liked about “Little Brother.” Sure, it gets gross, especially when Marcus, told to stay in the car no matter what, is trying to aim his relief through a slightly open driver side window. Even Lt. Drebin in “The Naked Gun” knew enough to use a urinal (a scene that was amplified thanks to the fact Drebin was wearing a wire). Here it is just pee all over the windows, dash and upholstery. Trust me, there is not enough Armor All to fix all that.
Yes, it is silly, dumb and gross but a) we need to laugh now, and this will make you laugh and b) by the end of the movie, both Cena and André have never been more likable on screen. This odd couple really works.
Helping to make Cena’s character more sympathetic is Christopher Meloni as Luke’s actual big brother, the wealthy success who always found ways to steal his younger sibling’s glory.
Along the way, there are some nice shots taken at the real estate television racket. While their roles are broad and cartoonish, former SNLer Ego Nwodim and Caleb Hearon are very funny as a pair of reality producer creeps. Look also for brief cameos from Paris Hilton and Andy Cohen.
Bottom line: if you are looking to laugh, Cena and André together are reason enough to overlook Little Brother’s other shortcomings.
