58
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSheridan’s actors work with their intellects fully engaged--and they engage us on levels we barely knew we had.
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliBrothers is arguably the most successful remake of a foreign film since Martin Scorsese reworked "Infernal Affairs" into "The Departed" and won the Oscar.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThis becomes Tobey Maguire's film to dominate, and I've never seen these dark depths in him before. Actors possess a great gift to surprise us, if they find the right material in their hands.
- 70SalonStephanie ZacharekSalonStephanie ZacharekShot for shot, Sheridan's approach isn't radically different from Bier's. And yet Bier gives us more to read between the lines: In her movie, there's an unspoken moodiness, a crackle of sexual tension, between Tommy and Grace's Danish counterparts. That understated but potent secret ingredient is missing from Sheridan's version, as sensitive and as artful as it is.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttIrish director Jim Sheridan, who has made his films in America in recent years, now delivers an American remake that hues closely to the original but loses some of its true grit.
- 60VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangThough it renders a convincing portrait of fractured family life and boasts its share of powerfully acted moments, this schematic tale of two siblings, ripped apart by jealousy, misunderstanding and unshakable trauma, plays like a more polished but less effective twin to the 2005 Danish original.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanBrothers isn't badly acted, but as directed by the increasingly impersonal Jim Sheridan, it's lumbering and heavy-handed, a film that piles on overwrought dramatic twists until it begins to creak under the weight of its presumed significance.
- 50St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSt. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonAs a melodrama, Brothers is passable entertainment. But the film squanders the opportunity to meaningfully portray the impact of war on American lives.
- 40Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfIt takes a long time for Brothers to become the movie it wants to be, and even then, it stumbles.
- 30Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonSheridan, repeatedly drawn to family sagas, including his own (2002's In America), aims for Greek tragedy but ends up with a PTSD melodrama, with Maguire able to produce slobber almost as effortlessly as Portman can summon up tears--essentially all her role calls for.