The Other Brother | Andre B. Blake, Carmen De Lavallade

The Other Brother | Andre B. Blake, Carmen De Lavallade | The story of Hapless and Hopeless.

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The Other Brother

	The Other Brother Andre B. Blake, Carmen De Lavallade Xenon, 2002 average customer review:based on 5 reviews
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Great Movie

A great movie that features an extended version of the ending and a great performance by Tangi Miller of Felicity.

The story of Hapless and Hopeless.

THE OTHER BROTHER centers around baby boy Martin Blaze (Hapless), a self-sufficent young man who can handle his business and his close friendship with his brother's ex-girlfriend, Ronnie. His downfall is his attempts to reconnect with the female population after catching his girlfriend having an affair. His style is a little too conservative, bending on a little rude. When he finds a connection with a woman, instead of addressing her, he stares. His courage comes in the form of older brother, Junnie (Hopeless). All that Martin lacks, Junnie has in spades. Confidence overflows with this guy, yet it's his lack of responsibility that makes him a very shallow man. Using his looks for his gain, he is not above sweet-talking the clerk at a dry cleaners to get his attire cleaned for free, and all the meaningless sex he can get by lying his [head] off. Both characters change when Martin meets his dream girl and Junnie hits rock bottom when his lazy ways catch up with him and start to wreck his life. A pretty good movie with an alternate ending that could have been added to the main feature, since it wouldn't have altered the tone of the movie at all.

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Could have been so much better

It is the classic story of the nerd who can't get the girl of his dream. He is helped by a so called player (in this case his brother) and finally get the girl after showing her his true self.
The main drawback of his film is its absolute amateurism in his execution: the actors, the direction, the lighting, the costume, ... .
None of the actors are credible except Michele Morgan, but she play a small role as the hero's neighbour and best friend (she also happen to be his brother ex-girlfriend and from the alternate ending only serious love).
It should have been obvious to the director that Mekhi is not a great actor, but more importantly is not convincing at all as a nerd. He overacts like he is trying to convince him self: nerd are not necessarily hunch back, and they do not keep playing with their spectacles. He would be much better casted as his brother the player.
The actor casted as his brother Andre Blake, despite all his attempt does not look like a player, more like the goofy brother trying/pretending to be a player. I must admit that he is not helped by very bad suits. Suits do not need to be expensive to look good in movies, but it helps if they are the correct size and fit the actor properly. Everywhere at least in London UK, The Miami Vice looks is 'passé' in the 21 century. In my book, extra large suit on a skinny body just look stupid.
I am sure that in all the USA, they should be able to find two actors which are black, good looking and good comedians (Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Gary Dourdan (CSI, Trois, etc), Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Omar Epps, ...).
The direction is uninspired to be polite, some of the steadycam shots are even unsteady. The lighting is so bad especially in the bar scene, you would think they did not review the shots, did not have the money to reshoot or were just blind.
The worst example of that total amateurism is the massage scene where our hero wear a disgusting checked underpants and a tee-shirt. Make him take off his tops and wear some sexy silk pants. The direction and the lighting are so bad, that the scene does not look sexy at all. The music is too loud and does not merge with the picture, it just suddenly scream in your ears.
The shame is that with more realistic dialog and better work on the overall package, they could have had a very good romantic comedy.
If you want a good romantic comedy with african-american, you better with the classic "Boomerang" with Eddie Murphy and Robbin Givens on top of their game for comedy.

For more recent African-American romantic comedies made on a cheaper budget 'Love Jones', 'Love and Basket Ball', 'The Wood', 'The brothers', 'The best Man' have the same appeal story wise, but with the extra quality.
My overall rating, not bad but not good either and with a little more application and talent could have been very good.

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Pretty good

"The Other Brother" (2001)

The storyline was okay and there were even some funny moments in here. But Mekhi Phifer (Martin) isn't very convincing as a nerd and some of the cinematography leaves much to be desired. I even saw the boom mic in the shot when Martin and Paula went back to the park and saw their favorite artist. This film feels extremely straight-to-video. -EJR

Uneventful

The box cover makes the film look more appealing than it really is. Each scene seems like there could have been more. Even when the director fades out then goes right bakc to the last scene he was filming seemed unprofessional. As a nerd Mekhi isn't bad. Again there could have been more to this, especially with the brother.

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