My Brother (2007)

30% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
63% of users liked it
(1,834 ratings)

An aspiring stand-up comic realizes precisely how precious the developmentally disabled brother he so frequently took for granted truly is in writer/director Anthony Lover's sensitive family drama. Poetically told by his terminally ill mother L'Tisha Morton (Vanessa Williams) that he and his… More An aspiring stand-up comic realizes precisely how precious the developmentally disabled brother he so frequently took for granted truly is in writer/director Anthony Lover's sensitive family drama. Poetically told by his terminally ill mother L'Tisha Morton (Vanessa Williams) that he and his developmentally disabled brother James (Christopher Scott) share a single soul despite having separate bodies, resentful thirty year-old Isaiah (Nashawn Kearse) longs to explore his stifled independence by testing his meddle on the comedy club circuit. When his dreams go up in smoke, Isaiah falls back on a courier job - initially assigned the task of delivering a mysterious package for an intimidating gang of Middle Eastern thugs. Later, when the package goes missing, the goons who hired Isaiah arrive at his apartment to rough up the frightened courier and his unsuspecting sibling. It's only then, when faced with the prospect of their own mortality, that Isaiah truly begins to comprehend the true depth of his brotherly bond with James. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 43 min.
Directed By: Anthony Lover
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Mar 6, 2006 Wide
On DVD: May 22, 2007
Studio: Codeblack Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
A moralistic black drama that makes its points with a heavy hand and unconvincing story developments.
Peter Debruge, Variety
A young man takes an awfully long time to discover what the audience already knows -- that his disabled brother is the most precious thing in his life -- in My Brother.
Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times
Its earnest tone, moving orchestral score and strong cast carry it past the rough patches.
Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle
My Brother is a brave little film, with the emphasis on little. Shot on a shoestring, it lacks the polish of many indie efforts but compensates with bold casting and a big heart.
Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times
My Brother is brimming with would-be life lessons. But the movie goes in so many directions, and follows through on so few of them, that all it transmits is a vague glow. It's watered-down chicken soup for the soul.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
What starts as a taut urban crime drama quickly sags into lurid after-school-special sentimentality.
Kam Williams, Black Star News
Seeing a ghetto-based drama revolving around black males not behaving like amoral gangstas or clownish buffoons is a welcome change of pace, plus there's the bonus of Vanessa Williams exhibiting an emotional range unseen in any of her previous work.
Robert W. Butler, Kansas City Star
Has no shortage of heart, but it has been so clumsily organized and falls back so often on clichéd storytelling that any early goodwill quickly morphs into resentment.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Story loses momentum in a wave of heavy-handed messages.
Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
[A] torpid, independently made urban melodrama.
Kam Williams, AALBC.com
A moving and meaningful melodrama about a blood bond tested by the trials and tribulations of trying to survive in the inner-city.