trailer mix

‘The Brothers Solomon’: Will (and Will) Work for Laughs

Tagline: “So there’s at least a small chance we’re dealing with a cyclops.”

Translation: TV funnymen fail to bring laughs to the big screen.

The gist: Todd Rundgren’s “Bang on the Drum All Day” and over a full minute of John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” comprise the lazily-selected, peppy soundtrack for a movie that appears packed with lazy plotting and intermittent pep. Will Arnett (funny reading the phone book) and Will Forte (second-best SNL George W. Bush impersonator) play underdeveloped home-schooled brothers. But guess what? For purely arbitrary reasons, they need to have a baby! And guess what? The girl they find on Craig’s List to carry it is a hooker! And guess what? Her pimp (Chi McBride, who after Let’s Go to Prison should know to steer clear of roles in which he threatens Will Arnett) appears to be angry with the brothers, and yet also appears in a large number of the movie’s scenes! There are two laughs in the trailer, though, which by the looks of it will comprise 67 percent of the laughs in the movie. Here’s one: Arnett to a pretty girl: “Ever like to go out for drinks, unwind after a long day?” Girl: “No.” Arnett: “Nor do I.” —Ben Wasserstein

‘The Brothers Solomon’: Will (and Will) Work for Laughs