Brothers
Lionsgate | Release Date: December 4, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
17
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Sheridan’s actors work with their intellects fully engaged--and they engage us on levels we barely knew we had. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Brothers is arguably the most successful remake of a foreign film since Martin Scorsese reworked "Infernal Affairs" into "The Departed" and won the Oscar. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This becomes Tobey Maguire's film to dominate, and I've never seen these dark depths in him before. Actors possess a great gift to surprise us, if they find the right material in their hands. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The film is gripping---an honorable and beautifully acted addition to the tradition of homefront war stories. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A heartbreaking film that speaks to the lifelong aftershocks of war, and to the powerful bonds of family and of love. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Brothers has the careful observation, measured pace and lived-in feeling of a good European film. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
In exploring the complicated nature of family bonds, Brothers is thought-provoking. The wounds inflicted by the cruelty of a troubled parent can prove as painful as battle scars. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It does take half the movie before the story --really kicks in. When it does, it'll knock the air out of you. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Shot for shot, Sheridan's approach isn't radically different from Bier's. And yet Bier gives us more to read between the lines: In her movie, there's an unspoken moodiness, a crackle of sexual tension, between Tommy and Grace's Danish counterparts. That understated but potent secret ingredient is missing from Sheridan's version, as sensitive and as artful as it is. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Bier's film succeeded on the merits of its actors, and this one offers fine performances by Portman and Gyllenhaal, but Maguire doesn't cut the mustard as the anguished military man. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A smart, well-meaning project -- never quite pulls itself together. It has a vague, half-finished feeling, as if it had not figured out what it was trying to do. Which may amount to a kind of realism -- an accurate reflection of where we are in Afghanistan. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
Brothers isn't up there in the empyrean of classic movies, but it is a solid drama -- about a family at war with itself. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Irish director Jim Sheridan, who has made his films in America in recent years, now delivers an American remake that hues closely to the original but loses some of its true grit. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin Chang
Though it renders a convincing portrait of fractured family life and boasts its share of powerfully acted moments, this schematic tale of two siblings, ripped apart by jealousy, misunderstanding and unshakable trauma, plays like a more polished but less effective twin to the 2005 Danish original. Read full review
60
EmpireWill Lawrence
Despite strong performances from the leads, when it comes to pacing and power, it’s the Danish original that edges it. Still, a sturdy and affecting remake that brings a powerful story to an even wider audience. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Brothers isn't badly acted, but as directed by the increasingly impersonal Jim Sheridan, it's lumbering and heavy-handed, a film that piles on overwrought dramatic twists until it begins to creak under the weight of its presumed significance. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The intrinsically powerful material occasionally pierces through. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin Wilson
As a melodrama, Brothers is passable entertainment. But the film squanders the opportunity to meaningfully portray the impact of war on American lives. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This is a corny tale, told with both generous helpings of deli-sliced cheese and a brief stretch of chilling tumultuousness. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Brothers is a collection of strong moments that don't add up to anything. The movie is all build-up. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
It tries too hard too early. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Having seen the trailer for Brothers and now the finished film, I feel as though I just watched the trailer twice. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Sheridan seems as conflicted as the Cahills about their virtues and failings. The underlying themes -- love, loyalty, decency, duty, honor, betrayal -- that screenwriter David Benioff will use to both bind and break this family seem to bedevil him more than inspire him this time out. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
Portman doesn't overact or underact; she just stands around with whatever the appropriate expression for the scene seems to be on her sweet, pretty, childlike face. If there's something going on behind that face, I neither know nor care what it is, which means that long stretches of Brothers involving her character's interiority struck me as dramatically inert. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
With the exception of Jake Gyllenhaal, whose shambling self-disgust hits the only genuine note, the movie is a classic of Hollywood miscasting and ambition gone askew. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Brothers is too depthless to dredge up any tears. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Jake Gyllenhaal…the film’s only piece of believable acting. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
For a ripped-from-reality film about love and death and family strife in the face of the war in Afghanistan, Brothers is awfully artificial. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
It takes a long time for Brothers to become the movie it wants to be, and even then, it stumbles. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
Sheridan, repeatedly drawn to family sagas, including his own (2002's In America), aims for Greek tragedy but ends up with a PTSD melodrama, with Maguire able to produce slobber almost as effortlessly as Portman can summon up tears--essentially all her role calls for. Read full review
30
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Brothers tries to delve into how war can tear families apart, but only succeeds in showing how miscasting and melodrama obscure good intentions. Read full review
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