Dir: Bob Odenkirk. US. 2007. 94mins.
Coming only three months after another mainstream R-rated comedy revolving around an impending birth, The Brothers Solomon will likely enjoy neither the critical accolades nor the bountiful box-office that greeted the arrival of this summer's Knocked Up. Though not without its screwball charm and occasionally funny moment, this saga of two socially maladjusted brothers trying to find a woman willing to be the mother of their child suffers from a lack of comic inspiration long before the film reaches the third trimester.

Opening September 7 in the US on only 650 screens, this TriStar release feels like an early-fall dump so that the studio can cut its losses in the theatrical market and try its luck on the home-video front. Director Bob Odenkirk's last film was 2006's quickly-buried Let's Go To Prison, and The Brothers Solomon's grosses may be comparable to that film's paltry $4.6m domestic tally.

Starring unproven leads Will Forte (of television's Saturday Night Live) and Will Arnett (who starred in Let's Go To Prison and had a supporting role in this spring's Blades Of Glory), Solomon's theatrical outlook appears decidedly gloomy, especially with Superbad still potent and New Line's Mr. Woodcock emerging next week. International rollout will commence at the end of September, but without any major stars, expect this procreation comedy to shoot blanks.

Socially awkward brothers Dean and John Solomon (Will Forte and Will Arnett, respectively) have trouble finding love because their home-schooling inthe distant Arcticprevented them from interacting with women. Now nerdy adults living in America, they find their purpose when their aging father (Lee Majors) slips into a coma, but not before confessing that his only regret was never having a grandchild. To grant Dad his perhaps final wish, Dean and John try fruitlessly to find a mate until they eventually hit upon a plan to hire a surrogate mother (Kristen Wiig) to carry their child to term.

Director Bob Odenkirk made his name on the subversive 1990s HBO sketch show Mr. Show, which often featured irreverent, bizarre humour that satirized the most milquetoast conventions of polite society. Equipped with a script by Forte, one of the brightest cast members of the current Saturday Night Live lineup, Odenkirk would seemingly be well-equipped to skewer the solemnity of pregnancy and childbirth, finding richly inappropriate humour in an event usually treated as sacred

Unfortunately, The Brothers Solomon is largely a staid comedy that leans heavily on repetitious humour and random weirdness that isn't audacious enough to connect. While Forte's screenplay comes up with some funny bits about the depths of the brothers' geeky behaviour, the film largely paints them as just typical losers without much personality or intriguing darkness. As for the attempts at pregnancy-related gags, while it's much appreciated that Odenkirk doesn't resort to obvious potty humour, the bits he and Forte have concocted are mostly tired and timid.

As a performer, Will Arnett has been slyly funny in the past, especially on the short-lived television sitcom Arrested Development, but he's a poor fit for John, the self-deluded ladies' man in this brother combo. In a different era, this obnoxious, conceited character would be played by Jim Carrey, who would exaggerate John's stupidity for maximum comedic effect. But Arnett doesn't possess Carrey's instincts for manically larger-than-life creations, and consequently John is merely an off-putting jerk.

Perhaps because he gave himself the stronger role, Forte fares far better as sweetly clueless Dean, who looks up to his brother even though his adoration is wholly unjustified. As demonstrated on SNL, Forte has a knack for playing ostensibly harmless regular guys whose inner freakiness makes them hilariously unpredictable. Dean probably could have been a clever three-minute sketch, but he's a bit thin to stand up to the demands of a 90-plus-minute feature.

Amidst the deluge of mostly middling jokes, another SNL cast member, Kristen Wiig, is a welcome diversion as the Solomons' surrogate mother. While the script hasn't conceived her as a funny character, Wiig exudes a girl-next-door likeability that, ironically, exposes a glaring missed opportunity: Instead of pairing her with an ex-boyfriend (played indifferently by Chi McBride), it's a shame the filmmakers didn't realize that she'd be a perfect fit for good-natured Dean. But like so much of The Brothers Solomon, this fragment of a good idea sits there awkwardly, not nearly as funny or satisfying as it could have been.

Production companies/backers
TriStar Pictures
Revolution Studios
Carsey-Werner Films

US distribution
Sony Pictures
International distribution
Sony Pictures

Producers
Tom Werner
Matt Berenson

Executive producers
Caryn Mandabach
Paddy Cullen

Screenplay
Will Forte

Cinematography
Tim Suhrstedt

Production design
John Paino

Editor
Tracy Wadmore-Smith

Music
John Swihart

Main cast
Will Arnett
Will Forte
Chi McBride
Kristen Wiig
Malin Akerman
Lee Majors

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