Before I begin, I must concede that I am not a fan of John Cena and his characters. From previous performances in movies such as “The Suicide Squad” or “Ferdinand,” his performances have always felt like they follow a similar narrative: the big buffoon who appears aggressive but really just wants peace. It’s become Cena’s typecast, and it often doesn’t interest me.
That’s why the combination of Cena and Eric André, a comedian I enjoyed watching in “Bad Trip” and as host of “The Eric André Show,” made me apprehensive about “Little Brother,” released June 26 on Netflix. And after watching the movie in its entirety, I can safely say that I was right to be worried.
It seems that André couldn’t save this movie from what it was ultimately destined to be: a cookie-cutter comedy that is both raunchy and mediocre.
“Little Brother” follows successful real estate agent Rudd Landy (Cena) who is focused on getting on the real estate-oriented reality TV show “NYC Hustlers.” During this stressful time, Marcus Pinchel (André), Rudd’s assigned partner from a high school mentoring program, imposes himself into Rudd’s life by listing Rudd as his emergency contact after getting hit by a truck.
I enjoyed André’s role as a hopeless and chaotically wild “little brother,” despite becoming another example of the "outcast sidekick" trope that is present in way too many comedy movies.
While I enjoyed André as Marcus, I didn’t like Cena’s Rudd quite as much. After Rudd repeatedly showed his flawed personality, whether it be failing to connect with his wife emotionally or showing how greedy he became in his search to succeed in the show, it became hard to root for him. And seeing how forgiving Marcus was, made me feel like Rudd truly needed a reality check to understand that Marcus was truly out to help him.
In addition, Rudd’s struggle to compete with his biological brother Josh (Christopher Meloni), having been constantly one-upped publicly, didn’t allow me to feel his character in the way I imagine the writers intended. I was watching a rich real estate guy complain about feeling less than his “cooler” brother, who ultimately didn’t have an established family like Rudd did. Rudd felt incessantly privileged to the point that the story’s attempt to end in a heartfelt way with Rudd realizing he is way too focused on his work, still left me feeling no sympathy for him.
I think this lack of sympathy was due to a mixture of Rudd’s character failing to show an ounce of appreciation toward his family only to gain it later and the movie’s predictability.
The ending felt clear early on when Rudd initially acted hostile toward Marcus when he was temporarily living in the family’s home, especially since Marcus’s involvement in Rudd’s life actively benefited him. For example, Rudd gains more popularity in the tv show when Marcus is his sidekick, leading me to suspect Rudd would inevitably make the realization that Marcus was only there to help him.
However, I felt Marcus’s character fit into the character trope that many comedies unnecessarily have: the one character that is both too raunchy and unhinged. On multiple occasions, I felt like Marcus was constantly bringing up Rudd and his wife’s sex life rather than diving deeper into what needed to be fixed emotionally in their relationship.
Instead, Marcus became quite set on giving Rudd’s wife, Deirdre (Michelle Monaghan), advice when they had one-on-one conversations about him. It felt weird that this unfamiliar man was talking to Rudd’s wife about how to perform some strange sexual action on Rudd to reignite their spark. And what seemed weirder is that somehow it worked?
Not only that, but it felt like rather than using a reason such as destruction or deception, the writers chose to have Marcus’s character unintentionally annoy Rudd via any raunchy manner they could.
For example, Marcus pees out of the window of Rudd’s car that he forces him in, telling him not to go out. So instead of finding a bathroom like any normal person, which would understandably break Rudd’s rule, Marcus attempts a daring feat that ends up soaking Rudd’s whole car.
While I can say Marcus was my favorite character for being the only one that stood out, it became clear that he was riddled with the same traits many comedies have used over and over again. But still, his “flawed sidekick” personality was better than Rudd’s boring character progression that I feel like has been told so many times before just with different packaging.
Unfortunately, “Little Brother” was just meh. As someone who avidly enjoys comedies, I felt unamused by the movie’s many jokes, further worsened by the feeling that many were too raunchy for my liking.
