My Blind Brother - A Movie Review

Swimming is a whole different ball game.

My Blind Brother swam into theaters in 2016. Bill is tired of being in the shadow of Robbie, his blind swim champion brother’s, success. Their rivalry reaches the danger point when they fall for the same woman. The trio navigates an awkward love triangle while keeping secrets at bay.

My Blind Brother looked appealing based on one minute of the trailer, but it ended up being a crass and predictable film with unlikable characters. Films don’t always have to accommodate transformative stories, though this film deserved a different angle.

Adam Brody, Nick Kroll, and Jenny Slate star as the main characters who end up in a love triangle. It’s a story about messy people and their flaws. We need stories like these because nobody is perfect. I never felt like I connected with the characters because they constantly griped about the situation, barely doing anything.

Brody plays Robbie, a blind man who takes full advantage of his disability for fame. He is selfish and hardly recognizes his brother, who does most of the heavy lifting. Credit is due to Brody for his realistic portrayal and research on the blind culture. Reportedly, a visually-impaired man attended a festival showing and acclaimed the film for its truthful portrayal.

I had never heard of Kroll before watching this film. Although Bill wants his share of credit, he never tries to impede Robbie. He just complains - a lot. His bitterness makes it hard to empathize with him. I understand that he feels invisible, but he takes advantage of his brother’s disability to date Rose.

Jenny Slate has joined my list of favorite actresses. I have put most of her films on my list. She is a good comedian, and I like the characters she plays. In this film, her character, Rose, is undergoing grief and gets caught in the middle of the relationship dramas.

The film casts Zoe Kazan, Charlie Hewson, Maryann Nagal, Greg Violand, Talia Tabin, and Heidi Lewandowski. Kazan gets the Best Supporting Character award for her hilarious performance as Rose’s best friend, Francie. She makes the film and adds energy to the story.

The love triangle is predictable, like other rom-coms, as Kroll and Slate constantly talk in private about their relationship. Several moments in the story are dragged out, and the ending is sudden. The film harbors themes of resentment and identity, but they’re bogged down by Robbie’s boastful nature and the predictable love triangle.

My Blind Brother is Sophie Goodhart’s feature debut. Goodhart has written and directed a few other features and TV shows, like Sex Education and The Locksmith (2010). She has the right angle for this film, studying complex character dynamics, but struggles to find consistency.

In my research for the film, My Blind Brother was originally a short film until Sophie Goodhart decided to turn it into a feature. Rose’s grief story was a completely different project, and Goodhart liked it so much that she wrote it into My Blind Brother.

I was expecting more of a comedy. Only one scene in the film made me laugh. Supposedly, a blind champ, who boasts that he is aware of everything, doesn’t suspect a thing when he sits between his brother and girlfriend, who are just dressing back up. I wish we had more comedy like this.

The film didn’t leave the best impression on me. It sits on familiar tropes. Others may have a different opinion based on mine. My Blind Brother is worth checking out for its acting talents.