HALF BROTHERS (2020) – Review

As this year thankfully nears an end we’re between those two big holidays that are all about family. So after we’ve eaten the big feast with them we’re gearing up for the big gift-giving season, full of brightly wrapped presents that often hide big surprises. But what if the biggest surprise isn’t in the package festooned with shiny paper and ribbons? How might you react upon finding out about a parent’s other family, complete with a sibling? That, along with riddles and a long road trip, is at the heart of the new comedy HALF BROTHERS.

The story begins 26 years ago down in Mexico as pre-teen Renato Murguia is enjoying an idyllic childhood, flying his remote-control model airplane with his best pal, his adoring papa Flavio (Juan Pablo Espinosa). All is bliss until the economic crash and the peso is devalued. With tears in his eyes, Flavio must leave Renato and mama Tere and join the throngs headed over the border to the US of A. But he promises to return very soon. Cut to today as the adult Renato (Luis Gerardo Mendez) is the head of his own successful aviation company. As he prepares to wed his fiancée Pamela (Pia Watson) and help raise her unique (loves to cosplay recent horror film icons) ten-year-old son, Emilio, a phone call stops him in his tracks. It’s from an American woman named Katherine who claims to be Flavio’s wife. . She says he’s dying and wants to see him one last time. Renato angrily dismisses the request, but Pamela, seeing he has issues, convinces him to make the trip to Chicago. At Flavio’s bedside, Renato is shocked when introduced to his half-brother Asher (Connor Del Rio), the same “goofball” that hit him up for money at a coffee shop earlier that morning. Pappa tells them that they must find someone named“Eloise” together and gives them an envelope marked “Evaristo”. Again Pamela insists that Renato make the journey, even though their wedding is just days away. With papa’s passing, he reluctantly joins the free-spirited, impulsive Asher in his clunker of a car for a road trip adventure to solve Flavio’s final riddle and locate the elusive Eloise.

The more dominant of the duo and the film’s main focus is Renato played with swagger and lots of barely suppressed rage by Mendez. As the story progresses and the wedding deadline nears his “slow burn” gains speed until it becomes a short lit fuse. Still, he gains our sympathies as he often feels like the only voice of logic and reason. Mendez makes him a most macho “alpha male”, striding confidently in his tailored suits and not suffering fools likely, especially in his first scene with a dimwitted US reporter. Speaking of fools, Mendez is far too often the straight man to the tired antics of Del Rio as one of the most annoying characters in recent movies, the obnoxious, impulsive, selfish Asher. The creators may have wanted to do a modern twist on Michael Keaton’s endearing motor-mouthed hustler from NIGHT SHIFT (time for a revisit), but the abrasive “man-child” quickly becomes the human-embodiment of fingernails on a chalkboard as he gives in to every whim, uncaring of others or the consequences. I’m sure Del Rio did his best with the poorly conceived and written role, but it’s hard to imagine a more irritating travel partner, despite the weak attempts at pathos (Dad didn’t “get” him). Luckily several flashback sequences spotlighting great work by Espinosa as the conflicted dad break up the chaos. Oh and there’s one familiar face, though buried under a thick and heavy grey beard: 1980s heartthrob Vincent Spano as Mr. B, the world’s most sympathetic pawn shop owner.

The guiding force of this flick is comedy vet Larry Greenfield, who does a competent job with the most lackluster of materials, namely the tired, predictable script. It may aspire to be PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES, but it’s not even DUE DATE. The shifts from traumatizing drama (Flavio’s violent mugging) to zany hijinks (oh, Asher stole a baby goat, that rascal) could cause easily result in viewer whiplash. Plus it got so annoying that a good 75% of the Anglos that Renato meets are slovenly, ignorant bullies. Maybe it’s long-overdue revenge for the scores of Bandidos and drug runners (not to mention Jose Jimenez) that have been staples of US pop culture for so long (indeed payback is a b#*%h). And the scenes dealing with immigration enforcement are trivialized to generate conflict. I’d say that HALF BROTHERS is a film aimed at halfwits, but that may be giving it too much credit (by at least 35% or so). As they said in the olden days, “Was this trip really necessary?”,  Nope.

One Half Out of 4