Brothers minus the 'hood

[Photo: Screen Gem] Celebrating friendship and toasting their futures, from left, Jackson (Morris Chestnut), Derrick (D.L. Hughley), Brian (Bill Bellamy) and Terry (Shemar Moore) of The Brothers provide a refreshing look at the lives of successful black professionals.

By STEVE PERSALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 23, 2001

The Brothers is a bright spot among black films. Here, secure, affluent men support each other as colleagues and friends. No gangsta, lots of fun.

The movies are where dreams begin. Therefore, the modern course -- and coarseness -- of many films with contemporary African-American themes has been depressing.

Too often, the movies depict black Americans, especially young males, as menaces II society. Rap culture made gangsta motifs profitable and some filmmakers haven't been any more ambitious than that. These films occasionally excite, but typically glamorize thug life, making deadly paybacks seem like honor to be chased.

That's why the rare arrivals of films like The Brothers are so refreshing. Not that Gary Hardwick's movie is some calculated social statement. It's simply a breezy comedy of manners and amore that treats its characters like the interesting, ingratiating people they're written to be. Blackness is vital to the vibe, but not the fun.

Hardwick portrays a side of African-American life that seldom surfaces in such films as Waiting to Exhale and Soul Food (or Trois and Hav' Plenty on a smaller scale). The four men at the core of the story are successful professionals in suits and ties that don't disguise their hip-hop sensibilities. Everyone in The Brothers is sophisticated, not mimicking white affluence but relishing their own.

The four friends are appealing, and each has a problem with a woman. Derrick (D.L. Hughley) is stuck with a sexually repressed wife. Jackson (Morris Chestnut) is falling for Denise (Gabrielle Union), who has another connection to his broken family. Terry (Shemar Moore) gets engaged to BeBe (Susan Dalian), but his resolve is shaken by Brian's (Bill Bellamy) mistrust of women.

Hardwick turns their dilemmas into a multifamily portrait with unusual detail. The filmmaker seems so inspired by the chance to show positive African-American images that he tries to squeeze in too much. Box office numbers alone will decide if he gets the opportunity again.

Along the way, Hardwick toys with some interesting topics, such as Brian's affair with a white woman (Nadege Auguste). The issue is handled casually at first, then opposition comes from a black woman, as expected. But the offended party is someone with a dual agenda, complicating the moment for the viewer. That's a smart move, no matter who turns out to be the bad girl.

Denise's secret also branches into compelling mini-dramas of family ties broken and regained. Hardwick isn't satisfied with the loose-limbed comedy Hughley and Bellamy provide or Moore's bare-chested sex appeal. Despite its title, The Brothers is very much about the sisters, too.

Leading the feminine debate is Jenifer Lewis in a wise, warm performance as Jackson's mother, Louise. Lewis gets some of the best lines in Hardwick's script, especially during a champagne party among the women that becomes a brisk indictment of male failings. Louise's story becomes another solid layer of Hardwick's film. Lewis makes her touching.

The Brothers meanders a bit, resulting in a padded effect even at 95 minutes. Hardwick can't resist setting up scenes just for comic effect, interrupting drama when it's just getting good. But Hardwick's mistakes are often the result of making cultural difference seem ordinary. The Brothers is like a lot of movies we've seen with white casts, only funkier. In the movie business, that's called progress.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Brothers

• Grade: B+
• Director: Gary Hardwick
• Cast: D.L. Hughley, Morris Chestnut, Bill Bellamy, Shemar Moore, Jenifer Lewis, Tatyana Ali, Vanessa Bell Calloway
• Screenplay: Gary Hardwick
• Rating: R; sexual situations, profanity, mild violence
• Running time: 95 min.

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