The premise behind The Brothers Solomon is brilliant and there are times where the movie really seems like it could come together and be a great comedy. John (Will Arnett) and Dean are brothers who, after the grisly death of their mother, move to the North Pole and are home schooled by their father (Lee Majors). After their father goes into a coma, the two socially inept brothers become convinced that the only way to save their dad is by giving him a grandchild. Since neither is married, the two finally find a surrogate mother, Janine (Kristen Wiig) on Craigslist. From the start, things don't go quite as well as the two hoped. Janine's foul-mouthed boyfriend, James (Chi McBride), isn't too hot on the plan, or the brothers. On top of that, John ends up falling for his neighbor, Tara (Malin Akerman), a nursing student who is only interested in John because of his comatose father.
For the most part, The Brothers Solomon seems like it is trying to channel the same social ineptness that made Dumb and Dumber a fun movie. What worked for Dumb and Dumber doesn't work here because the characters aren't very endearing or particularly memorable. Although most of the dialogue is well-written, the delivery falls short of the mark. Will Arnett does a better job with his role than Will Forte, mostly because his character isn't that far off from his character in Arrested Development.
A number of extras are included on the disc, though considering how bad the movie is none are really worth watching.
I wanted to like The Brothers Solomon, mostly because I'm a big fan of Will Arnett. I even watched it multiple times hoping that there would be a Napoleon Dynamite effect where it took at least two viewings before the movie made sense. Even after two and a half viewings (I couldn't make it past the third), I could only conclude that it is a bad movie.
