By Buzz Byrne

I knew nothing about this movie when I sat down in the near-empty theater today. I saw no ads, no advance press, nothing. That was a plus. Also, we saw a preview for the movie GOOD LUCK CHUCK starring Dane Cook. That was a plus as well. A documentary on land mine victims would look like a laugh riot compared to a Dane Cook vehicle.

So this put me in the mood to actually enjoy THE BROTHERS SOLOMON. Sure, plenty of this movie is rehashing DUMB AND DUMBER, but at least it steals from a funny source. Will Forte and Will Arnett play brothers Dean and John Solomon respectively. Raised in both the Arctic and Antarctica by their father (a comatose Lee Majors…literally, his character is in a coma for the entire movie), they are home schooled PHDs and complete morons. When they get the call that their father is sick, they rush to hospital to find him unconscious. Of course they stopped at the video store on the way over to dispute a late charge on a rental of ULEE’S GOLD, but they got there as soon as they could. The doctor informs them that dad’s last wish was to see a grandchild. They bring dad home and set out to get him a grandchild.

After failing at the dating scene and adoption, they place an ad on craigslist to find a woman who will have their baby. Along comes Janine (Kristen Wiig) with her on-again, off-again foul mouthed boyfriend James (Chi McBride). They are saddened to learn she agrees to artificial insemination and won’t let them “Blanket her ovarian walls with [their] sperm.”

We go through all three trimesters with this group of four. Along the way Arnett tries relentlessly to seduce their next door neighbor Tara (Malen Akerman), a nursing student who watches their father as part of her schooling. Somehow, she resists his charms.


Of course Janine wants to keep the baby. Of course the brothers fight and “break up.” Of course it works out in the end, for the most part. I don’t think you go to a movie like this and find yourself saying, “Oh, that’s a twist I didn’t see coming.” Director Bob Odenkirk gives Arnett too much leeway in his mugging. Some of his business could have been tightened up considerably. His comedic gifts are not in question to anyone who watched ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, but clearly he needs a strong handed director. Forte, who also gets writing credit, is extremely funny especially with his go-to comedy pitch of saying the opposite of what he is indicating. The women are perfectly cast and Chi McBride is very good once his overwritten introduction scene is in the past.

The movie is going to get killed by most critics. There is material in it that seems lifted almost verbatim from THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, ME MYSELF AND IRENE and of course the aforementioned DUMB AND DUMBER. I think Forte is a fan of the Farrelly brothers.


I laughed quite a few times. I think it’s hard to do audacious comedy without being venomous and hateful. I think they pulled it off. I also think that between this movie and his sublime guest shot on FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, I am full fledged member of The Will Forte Fan Club. I hope he continues to develop his writing and relies less on previously tread ground. He is good enough that he shouldn’t have to “borrow” so heavily, even if he borrows from great sources.