“Brothers” is the classic example of a movie that tries to be too many things and ends up not being much of anything except overwrought.

I’ve never seen the Danish film on which this new version is based, but there’s a Hollywood heavy-handedness at play here, despite the presence of Jim Sheridan as director. Perhaps the original is every bit as detailed in its war section of the film. I don’t know. But this one feels contrived – as though someone said, Hey, time to push buttons – rather than organic. It’s like a cynical attempt to make movie version of a downbeat Bruce Springsteen song. (More…)