When Movies Go Bad, Film a Better Story
Bad Movies Are Often Popular
We have seen some excruciatingly bad movies made in the last - What, 80 years or so? That's a lot of opportunity for stupidity, crassness, propaganda, and boredom onscreen and we've scene all that - and movie ticket and concessions prices keep increasing!
The Indie Film genre is stealing customers from the mainstream studios to the extent that major theaters are beginning to offer more of them. The tongue-in-cheek independent films El Monstro Del Mer and Hobo With a Shotgun are far superior to the film discussed here as the worst of 2007 and far superior to some of the best films from major studios in recent years.
Bad film example: Godzilla 2000 was so boring in its major fight scene, that I fell asleep during the the battle between two gigantic film monsters. Maybe some people liked it, but it reminded me of the extra footage in Star Trek the Motion Picture (1979), where everyone on the bridge is staring with twisted expressions at colors in the sky.
Much of ST:TMP Looked like this:
The Brothers Solomon, if you must watch...
A Bad Movie and a Good Movie
THE BROTHERS SOLOMON
- Starring Will Arnett, Will Forte, Chi McBride, Kristen Wiig, and Jenna Fischer
- Directed by Bob Odenkirk
- Written by Will Forte
- DVD Release Date: Dec. 26, 2007
- Running Time: 91 minutes
- MPAA Rating R - For harsh language and sexual content.
The spirit of Steve Martin’s early hit-or-miss slapstick oddities lives on in “The Brothers Solomon,” a crass goof in which two socially inept siblings, John and Dean Solomon (Will Arnett and Will Forte), who were home-schooled in the Arctic by their now comatose dad (Lee Majors), try to fulfill his wish for a grandchild.
— MATT ZOLLER SEITZ, New York TimesWatch One of These Instead of The Solomon Brothers
Solomon Bros. DVD Features
- Sound : Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
- Subtitles - English, French, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai - Optional. Subtitles - English - Closed Captioned
- Audio Commentary - Will Forte and Will Arnett.
- Cut Scenes
- Featurettes - 1. "The Fine Art of Creating a Specimen" and 2. "Extended Dressing Up Montage."
I must say, even the Featurettes weren't camp enough or tongue-in-cheek enough to be funny!
In sharp contrast, on Saturday Night Live (SNL), Will Forte has entertained me quite a bit with his George W. Bush impersonations. He portrays the man as goofy, but still likable in a way - although pathetically so. It's all very funny and not malicious. However, I don't care much for Mr. Forte in any other of his roles on the long running SNL television show.
For a moving dramatic performance, see Will Forte in Nebraska with Bruce Dern as his aging father, who believes he has won a big mail order prize. A scene in which all the male relatives visit and discuss the length of drive time to the house is very good, as is the development of the relationship between father and son on screen.
SNL's Dana Carvey has stuck in my mind as Church Lady, but I enjoyed him in other skits and roles as well. For me, Will Forte has just one SNL character that entertains me and that is George W. Bush as President of the United States. That may be my loss, perhaps, but I don't "get" or identify with any of the rest of his characters - except his Nebraska turn and I think he will do more roles like that one.
I saw the film My Super Ex-Girlfriend and I thought that was a pretty lame production as well, but the Solomons in their goofy brotherhood are my pick for complete worst film of 2007. You may have other bottom choices.
The Solomon Brothers discredit the name Solomon - as in Dick Solomon and the gang in 3rd Rock from the Sun. That television comedy was a sure favorite and is still watched by many viewers in reruns. We wish it would comme back or at least have a big screen reunion. Will Forte was a writer on that show! Perhaps that is where he was inspired to use the name Solomon for the film about odd brothers.
This all reminds me that 3rd Rock's Dick Solomon, John Lithgow, gave a consistently hilarious performance of his character. It will always be my favorite role from that actor, but I liked him in other parts as well - notably, as Don Quixote in the title role of the film of the same name.
To me, Will Forte will always be a comic George W. Bush. Perhaps he might try that persona in TV commercials. He might play in a movie that sends up the President in parody and hijinks now that Mr. Bush has left the Whitehouse. I bet he could make a large amount of money with that role. He could write it as well.
A Better Place, a Better Story
Nebraska - The Best of Will Forte
About Will Forte in "Nebraska":
"It’s a surprising performance from Forte, tasked with much of the heavy lifting opposite a tight-lipped Dern, who has never been better."
-- Shawn Hazelett, Under the Radar
See Will Forte in "Nebraska"
Opinions of The Solomon Brothers Movie
During August 2013, the Rotten Tomatoes film website showed a Tomatometer rating of 13% (It was 15% during the first month of the original release). The same-month audience approval rating is 31%. General opinion is not good. However, the ratings rose to 15% and 31%, respectively. The accompanying summary is:
Squandering its impressive cast with poorly-directed gags, The Brothers Solomon is a one-joke film stretched well beyond its limits.
The film's original Domestic Box Office take figured at just $900,906.
The Worldwide Box Office take came in at a better number: $1,035,056
The film budget was $10,000,000 and the movie lost a lot of money.
On the TV Show At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper reported that he walked out of the film, his first such experience in leaving a bad movie.
Still, some viewers enjoyed the show.
I was so angry at everybody involved in the making of this film. It's just astonishing.
— Richard RoeperQuotes from Dick Solomon - A True Solomon
As good as Confucius -
- Guns don't kill people, physics kills people.
- A riddle wrapped up in an enigma fried and served with Chinese dipping sauce.
- I have to perch on the teeth of death in order to peer down at the tonsils of enlightenment.
- Women. You can't live with them, yet they're everywhere.
- Not in the car, not in the bar, not in the house, not up your blouse, I cannot touch you here or there, I cannot touch you anywhere! [Did Forte write this one?]
There's nothing very wise about The Brothers Solomon.
— Claudia Puig, USA TodayLinks to the Nonsense of Solomon
For your edification, listed below is a group of websites about Will Forte, The Solomon Brothers and other pertinent facts and information regarding this film.
Solomon Links
Good Movies to See
- Alfred Hitchcock: Movie Review Of Hitchcock (2012), ...
The biographical picture of Sir Alfred Hitchcock during the filming of the classic - Best Summer Art House, Action and Drama Movies
Some movies released in close succession this summer will likely become classics and cult classics for many years. - Baseball History: The Movie "42" and the Annual Jackie Robinson Day
Every year on April 15, all Major League Baseball players wear the number 42, the only number to be retired from baseball. It will always be Jackie's number and this film tells us why.
- The Butler: Eugene Allen - Book and Film Review
Along the lines of Forrest Gump, Forrest Whitaker portrays the real Eugene Allen, an African-American who served 8 US Presidents, saw Civil Rights rise, and attended the Inauguration of Barack Obama. - Meg Ryan Directs One of the Best Films Made in Virginia
Historical movies like - "Unbroken" - The Story Behind Angelina Jolie's POW Film
Who will play WWII hero and Olympian Louis Zamperini in the film of the book by the same name - Unbroken? At age 97, the hero was a consultant on the film until his death in July 2014.