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Back Shelf Beauties
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The Brothers Grimm If you are a long lost relative of the Grimm family, I encourage you to sue. Sue 'em hard and sue 'em deep because director Terry Gilliam has left a stain on your family's name that can't be erased with OxyClean. In this not so true story, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star as Will and Jake Grimm - two traveling con artists in early 1800's Europe. They create all sorts of elaborate hoaxes to make the local townspeople believe the two brothers can rid their village of spirits and evil enchantments - for the right price (what's the price to scare off this movie?). However, a real problem has erupted in the forest of Marbaden (I don't think it is a real forest, but it is a real bathroom stone disinfectant. Maybe it can erase the stain on the Grimm family name). Girls like Little Red Riding Hood and Gretel have been disappearing in the dark, dangerous forest, and the leader of Napolean's French forces, Deletombe (Jonathan Pryce), has ordered the two brothers to stop what is considered to be an evil otherworldly force causing the calamities, so the townspeople will not revolt against him for failing to keep the peace. Can these con men rid the forest of evil enchantments? The Brothers Grimm is one of the most inept movies I have seen all year. For a movie about storytellers, it has some of the worst storytelling I have ever seen in a major motion picture, which results in a dreadful, boring, unfunny, hard to follow film that should have been sent straight to DVD. Gilliam desperately wants to make The Brothers Grimm into a madcap romp of a film, but it's all forced and doesn't have a script built for comedy. The pacing is slow, the jokes are flat and unoriginal and Damon and Ledger can't enliven a dying film. After setting up an uneasy relationship between the two brothers (based on an old misunderstanding about some magic beans, ha ha ho hum), which could have provided the basis for an interesting dramatic thriller, Damon and Ledger are left to yuck it up. Funny faces, strange reactions to misstatements and spit-takes dominate a film lacking a sharp story and wicked one-liners. It's as if Gilliam and writer Ehren Kruger were caught between making an action film and a comedy, and couldn't resolve which to go for in The Brothers Grimm. Worst of all, this movie looks fake even for a movie. The special effects appear to be developed using technology from several years ago as we watch a very herky-jerky wolf running around the forest, and another item that is supposed to be floating around whimsically and smooth, but doesn't seem to have the same sharpness and texture of other items in the frame. Also, The Brothers Grimm doesn't look like a movie set in the forest when the action is in the forest. It is too obviously a sound stage, or the worst outdoor shoot I have ever seen in my life. The Brothers Grimm will leave you worse than grim if you buy tickets to this clunker. 0 Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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