Movie Review: "The Brothers Grimm"

Went and saw "The Brothers Grimm" for my birthday this weekend. As most of the reviews have said, it was visually stunning, with really good set work; it looked just like I've always imagined Germany in the 1800s would look (on the few occasions I've thought about that.) Matt Damon and Heath Ledger did a pretty good job; I had no trouble believing they were brothers, and I understood their motivations. I also understood the motivation of the "final boss" baddie at the end. Everything else about the movie, though, confused me to no end.

Don't get me wrong; I normally like Terry Gilliam's work, and I'm a big Monty Python fan. The problem with the movie is that the story just didn't work; other than the main characters, I didn't understand why anyone else was doing what they were doing. It seemed like they'd get to a point in the script and say, "Well, I don't see any way for the heroes to get out of this; let's have one of the bad guys become a good guy for no apparent reason". I thought that maybe I'd get more out of it by sleeping on it overnight, but it didn't help. The script sucked. My teenage sons weren't even able to suspend disbelief enough to like it.

Don't waste your money on this picture; wait for it to come out on HBO or whatever. Bottom line: like Stealth before it, I give this movie "the finger".