Brothers - Episode 1, "On The Road" - Review & Recap
⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️
There are some stories so strange that Hollywood couldn't come up with them if it tried. The long-running possibility that Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey might actually be half-brothers certainly qualifies.
A good portion of the population probably already knows the story. McConaughey's mother, affectionately known as Ma Mac, apparently knew Woody's father, Charles Harrelson, back in the day. Exactly how well she knew him has fueled years of speculation about whether two of Hollywood's most famously close friends might share more than friendship.
That's an incredible premise for a television series.
Thankfully, Brothers understands that it's only the premise.
What I really appreciate about the new Apple TV comedy is that it doesn't turn the whole thing into a glorified reality show where we're waiting for Maury Povich to jump out from behind a curtain and scream, "YOU ARE THE FATHER!"
Instead, Brothers takes that little nugget of truth and uses it as the foundation for something much more interesting: a fictionalized look at the lives, friendship and families of two genuinely fascinating people.
And it's really damn funny.
The genius of the setup is the contrast between its two stars.
Woody Harrelson plays an exaggerated version of the New Age, environmentally conscious Woody we've come to know over the years. He's trying to save the planet. He doesn't want to hurt animals, humans included. He loves his family. He loves his friends. He genuinely wants to make the world a better place.
He's also a guy who desperately wants everyone to leave him the hell alone when things get complicated.
When one of Woody's daughters has her heart broken, his wife and other daughter expect him to step up and help console her.
Woody has another idea.
Run.
He isn't being cruel. He's just a man who would rather avoid confrontation, emotional drama and pretty much anything that might disrupt his carefully cultivated peaceful existence. Unfortunately for Woody, his family isn't letting him escape that easily.
So if Woody can't jump ship, everybody is coming with him.
Destination: Camp McConaughey.
And that's where things really get rolling.
Meanwhile, Matthew McConaughey has his own problem.
His father's high school is retiring his football uniform and Matthew has been asked to deliver a speech honoring him.
There's just one problem.
He can't write the damn thing.
Matthew is suffering from severe writer's block and wants just one thing. Peace and quiet to finish the damn speech.
That's it.
Give the man a little solitude and let him write his speech.
Of course, this is a comedy starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, so there is absolutely no chance that's going to happen.
I have to mention one of my favorite running gags. Matthew attempting to write this speech on an increasingly ridiculous assortment of contraptions designed to allow him to work everywhere. In the pool. Walking around the ranch. Wherever inspiration might strike.
Watching McConaughey desperately search for the perfect environment to write while apparently refusing to simply sit at a desk is priceless.
Then Woody arrives.
Not quietly, either.
He rolls up with his entire family in a giant hippie, solar-powered, eco-friendly bus and promptly destroys any possibility Matthew had of finding peace.
From there, the adventure begins.
Woody decides Matthew needs to loosen up and have some fun. Matthew wants Woody to stop turning his life upside down.
You can probably guess how well that works out.
What surprised me about Brothers is just how much the show is willing to do with this premise.
There are some genuinely hilarious moments, but the series isn't afraid to slow things down and let these characters have real conversations. There are several surprisingly serious dramatic moments, and there's even some action that I absolutely did not see coming.
The supporting family members are a huge part of why it works.
They aren't simply there to stand around while Woody and Matthew bounce jokes off each other. The families create the backdrop that makes these fictionalized versions of Harrelson and McConaughey work.
Woody is chaos wrapped in good intentions.
Matthew is desperately trying to be the responsible one.
Put their families together, and neither man stands a chance.
And all of this happens before we even get to the elephant in the room.
Ma Mac knew Woody's dad.
For all the comedy surrounding the possibility that Woody and Matthew could actually be related, I appreciated that Brothers doesn't treat Charles Harrelson entirely as a punchline.
Charles Harrelson was a convicted killer who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of federal judge John H. Wood Jr. He also famously claimed that he had been involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, although that claim was never substantiated.
He died in federal prison in 2007.
The show doesn't spend an enormous amount of time dwelling on this history, but what we get from Woody is brief and telling.
For me, it adds another layer to this fictionalized version of Harrelson.
Suddenly, the guy trying desperately to live peacefully, protect animals, care for the planet, support his family and avoid hurting anyone feels a little different when viewed through the shadow cast by his father.
Maybe Woody's exaggerated New Age persona isn't simply the setup for a joke.
Maybe it's part of the character's response to where he came from.
That doesn't mean Brothers suddenly turns into a psychological examination of Woody Harrelson's childhood. It doesn't need to. A few quiet moments are enough to give the comedy some unexpected weight.
Ultimately, Brothers works because of the relationship at its center.
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey have the kind of chemistry you simply can't manufacture. They've been friends for decades, they've worked together before, and there's a natural ease between them that makes even the show's most absurd situations feel believable.
The series wisely takes advantage of everything audiences already know, or think they know, about these two guys.
Matthew is Matthew.
Woody is Woody.
Except they're not.
They're heightened, fictionalized versions of themselves living in a world that borrows enough from reality to constantly make you wonder where the truth ends and the joke begins.
That's exactly what makes the premise work.
Yes, eventually Ma Mac drops the bombshell that she knew Charles Harrelson.
Yes, we're going to have to deal with the possibility that Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey might actually be brothers.
But I'm glad Brothers isn't racing toward a DNA test as though that's the only reason we're watching.
I'm already invested in these characters, their families and the wonderfully dysfunctional friendship at the center of it all.
Give me Woody trying to drag Matthew into another ridiculous adventure.
Give me Matthew desperately searching for five uninterrupted minutes to write his speech.
Give me that ridiculous solar-powered hippie bus.
And the best part of the show? I don't really care if they are brothers or not.
Check out the trailer for Brothers, now streaming on Apple TV:
