History is fraught with ecological mistakes and disasters caused by supposed experts and do-gooders messing with nature. Sometimes they were trying to fix naturally occurring changes, and at others, the results of previous manmade meddling. Yet, the attempts to restore some semblance of balance often led to unexpected consequences and unwelcome results, especially when non-native species of plants or animals ended up taking up too much of the slack by multiplying with reckless abandon.
Although not as bad for the environment as such ecological manipulation, similar results have occurred in other fields where such fixes have also led to bad things. Take, for instance, the entertainment ecosystem known as Saturday Night Live. A fertile breeding ground for comedy, it often loses members of its species for a number of reasons, causing producer Lorne Michaels to introduce outside talent into the mix.
While that's kept the show alive for decades as an ever-evolving TV creature, the problem is that its wildlife occasionally gets lose and spreads into other forms of entertainment. The latest such example is writer/actor Will Forte and director Bill Odenkirk who've joined forces to create "The Brothers Solomon," a supposed comedy also featuring Will Arnett, whose SNL connection comes through his live-in girlfriend, Amy Poehler.
An inbred movie cousin to the likes of "Dumb and Dumber," the film features the two Wills as the titular siblings who, upon hearing that their father's only regret before slipping into a coma was not ever having grandchildren, decide to go forth and procreate. Unfortunately for them, they're as socially graceful as a bull in the proverbial china shop, exacerbated by a somewhat creepy cheerfulness and eagerness to accomplish the task at hand.
Thus, when the traditional route doesn't work (a speeding bus takes care of their lone prospect -- a gag that's become worn from overuse), they try adoption. After insulting their interviewer's son, however, their last resort is paying a woman to be a surrogate mother (that would be Kristin Wiig, yet another escape from the SNL farm), but her ex-boyfriend (Chi McBride, slumming it) isn't crazy about the idea of their "boys" doing some swimming up the River Uterus.
They eventually convince her, and from that point on, they must not only contend with her pregnancy, but also the fact that they're about to become dads, a scary prospect if there ever was one. The humor is supposed to stem from all of that, but this is arguably the lamest, most poorly executed, and unfunny comedy of this or most any year of recent memory.
Signs of that are evident right from the get-go where the two leads' faces repeatedly show up on the screen in close-up, mugging, and grinning about the onscreen credits as if they know we're in store for the funniest thing since, well, Forte's last SNL skit. Rather than being hilarious, amusing, or at least endearing, however, that sequence quickly becomes tiresome as it wears out its welcome by driving its one-note joke into the ground through methodical repetition.
It doesn't get any better once the story starts or the main plot thrust is introduced. From them being oblivious about how things work in the world to having their priorities out of whack (they rush to the video store to contest late charges and rent another title before visiting their ailing father in the hospital), the jokes not only fall flat on their face, but they also suffer from being predictable and not particularly inspired, clever, or -- most importantly -- funny or at least amusing.
The unprepared new dad bit certainly isn't novel in the world of movies, which also holds true for the sperm donor bit, etc. Thus, one hopes that perhaps Odenkirk (who previously helmed the equally abysmal "Let's Go To Prison") and Forte the screenwriter might put some refreshing spin on said stale material. Unfortunately, all of it feels like lame elements from an SNL skit gone bad, and they even mishandle the seemingly requisite homoerotic elements often utilized in films featuring dimwitted and/or clueless characters who are otherwise heterosexual.
At least on that skit show, when things don't work, they're over in just a few minutes and we move on to something else. Sadly, the same can't be said here where the unrelenting torture goes on for 90-some minutes (at least Lee Majors -- as the dad -- has the right idea by retreating into a coma for most of that time).
Awful in every way imaginable, "The Brothers Solomon" makes one wish for mandatory sterilization of all involved so that they don't pass on their bad moviemaking traits to any offspring, hopefully nipping any sort of cinematic propagation in the bud. The film rates as a 0 out of 10.
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