BORN TO BE WILD

BROTHERS IS THE MOST SURPRISING ACTION COMEDY OF THE YEAR, AND NOT JUST BECAUSE JOSH BROLIN AND PETER DINKLAGE PLAY CRIMINAL TWINS. TOTAL FILM ROUNDS UP THE STARS TO TALK ABOUT DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES, THE 'HARD AS NAILS' COMEDIES THEY GREW UP WITH, AND MASTURBATING MONKEYS...

- JAMIE GRAHAM

In Brothers, the new film by director Max Barbakow (Palm Springs), Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage play twins raised by Glenn Close's career-criminal mom. Growing up, the brothers' heists become increasingly risky (and profitable) until Dinklage's Jady is caught and lands a five-year stretch. Brolin's Moke escapes and goes straight.

We learn all this in a whistle-stop prologue. The main action kicks off as Jady is released from clink to find Moke living a suburban life, his first child about to be born. Only Jady has one last job he has to do if he's to get out from under the thumb of Brendan Fraser's corrupt prison guard, Farful. And it's a two-man job...

Having Brolin and Dinklage play twins might make Brothers sound like goofy Schwarzenegger/DeVito vehicle Twins, but it actually has more in common with other comedies of that era, such as Midnight Run and 48 Hrs. Shooting a lot of nights on the road, and with much of the action taking place in motels, diners and bars, it mixes its absurdity with fist fights and shootouts, while underneath all of the laughter and the action are some unvarnished observations on family life. The script, after all, came out of Brolin's recollections of his own youth, for the son of actor James Brolin and casting director and wildlife activist Jane Cameron Agee hung with the 'Cito Rats' in Santa Barbara after his parents divorced, and has been open about his wild youth on the record before.

Can Brothers bring back the sort of adult comedies that used to switch up tones and genres and have something to say? Over to Brolin and Dinklage for some fighting talk...

How did Brothers first spring to life?