Brotherly love important to friends who share all in film
by Julia Mims, reporter

    Ah, spring has arrived. The mind is filled with thoughts of love, blooming flowers, growing grass and women in wedding dresses packing heat. Well, the latter part is true for one of the characters in the new movie The Brothers.

    The Brothers is a dramatic comedy that centers on four successful friends: Jackson (Morris Chestnut), Terry (Shemar Moore), Brian (Bill Bellamy) and Derrick (D.L. Hughley). They are there for each other, on the basketball court, as each weathers problems about love, marriage and family.

    Brothers is a masculine version of Waiting to Exhale.

Each man has a distinctly different view on love and commitment.
Jackson wants a meaningful relationship but is too scared to open up. Of course, his dreaming of a woman in a wedding dress pointing a gun at him doesn’t exactly scream commitment.

    Brian has a negative attitude toward women in general, to the point of coming up with an hilarious song to exemplify his opinions of the opposite sex.

    Terry is looking to change his childish ways, and Derrick, the only married man, just wants some equality in his relationship, especially in the bedroom.

    The guys spend plenty of time whining about their women problems and the women in the film do the same. It becomes a battle of the sexes. Both sides are trying to figure the other out.

    The brothers have their troubles, but at least they have each other.

    That is until Terry decides it is time to take action against his childish ways and get married.

    His friends are shocked that the playboy they used to know is thinking of tying the knot.

    As the guys come to terms with his decision, they all begin re-evaluating their lives.

    It becomes a time of introspection as they look at themselves to see who they really are and what they want. They begin to look at not only what they want but also what a woman would want in them.

    Written and directed by Gary Hardwick, The Brothers examines the relationship between men and the women they love and are trying to figure out.

    Dramatic comedies are challenging. The movie works as a dramatic comedy because Hardwick is able to present truthful thoughts from both sides without an overbearing feeling.

    He is able to interlace comedy with the drama to give the movie a lighter feel without losing the focus.

    Heading up the comedy in The Brothers is Hughley. His portrayal of a sexually frustrated married man is great.

    The ability to diffuse tense situations with humor takes talent. An actor runs the risk of becoming just the comic relief and falling into a flat character role.

    Hughley avoids these traps. One cannot help but laugh when he is on screen.

    All actors give good performances.

    The cast has a great dynamic, as if they are all close in real life.

    And even though this is a story about the brothers, the women give good performances also.

    Gabrielle Union plays Denise, a woman with a secret, but who also has the potential to open up Jackson’s heart. She puts great confidence into her character by giving her a very straightforward personality.

    Union and Chestnut have a nice on-screen chemistry that makes everything they go through seem believable.

    Jenifer Lewis is also a standout as Jackson’s mother Louise, who is not quite over her ex-husband. Lewis has an especially funny scene when she meets her ex’s date at a party for their daughter, played by Tatyana Ali.

    Louise has a great theory about men and a method of determining if they are in love that involves giving up their last bite of food. This part will have women thinking back to see if their man ever gave them the last bite of anything.

    The Brothers has more than a few jokes to keep the audience laughing, but the movie also has something to say about growing up and learning about oneself.