• 2000s movies have a special place in my heart.
In that decade, nearly any dumb comedy could score a theatrical greenlight as long as Jason Bateman, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Jack Black or Seth Rogen’s face was plastered on a poster and eventual DVD cover.
This glut of tentpole releases produced classics (“Pineapple Express,” “Tropic Thunder” and “Step Brothers” were all released on back-to-back-to-back weeks in 2008) and many forgotten duds (“Year One,” “The Switch,” “Along Came Polly”).
Little did we know that this was the last gasp of the moviegoing experience.
Soon after, the stars from this era aged out of these roles and streaming relegated comedies with modest budgets to the small screen except for a few rare exceptions.
That’s not what I’m here to talk about though.
Instead, let’s discuss one bizarre box office bomb from 2007 (the peak of theatrical comedy releases) that was lost to the sands of time.
Written by Will Forte, directed by Bob Odenkirk and starring Forte, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Chi McBride, Lee Majors and Malin Akerman with Bill Hader, Jenna Fischer, in supporting roles, “The Brothers Solomon” sounds like a slam dunk on paper even today.
In reality, it’s not. It’s really not. It’s so not.
“The Brothers Solomon” is at times tasteless, vulgar, tone deaf and downright mean to marginalized groups.
I’m being generous here too.
As we all know all too well, comedies generally don’t age well.
However, for one brief five-minute stretch in “The Brothers Solomon’s” third act, it achieves transcendence.
Yes, one scene in this movie is unimpeachable comedy gold on par with all the best silly films— “Zoolander,” “Anchorman,” “Knocked Up”— of this period.
In fact, this scene was so good I watched it three times and I never re-watch anything.
Here’s the setup.
“The Brothers Solomon’s” premise is simple. A pair of dim-witted brothers (Forte and Arnett) want to have a child because their dying father (Majors) would have liked that.
They think.
So, the two go on a quest far and wide soliciting and putting down potential mates (one of the film’s most painful stretches) before deciding that they want to adopt. Of course, they blow that too. Finally, the fellas land on a surrogate (played by Kristen Wiig) demanding a hefty fee which they agree to after negotiating her to a higher price than she initially bargained for.
Toward the end of the film, Wiig decides she wants to keep the baby for herself and disappears.
Forte and Arnett flounder. They need this baby to impress their coma-ridden father!
While searching for Wiig, a moment of inspiration strikes when the two spot a sky banner that reads “Eat at Eatz Diner.”
Yes! That’s the ticket.
NOTE: This sequence takes place around the 1:13:40 mark into the movie’s 93-minute runtime if you want to fast forward.
Of course, in a classic Forte misdirect, they eat at the diner rather than procure a sky banner.
Post-meal, they see another banner. This one says “Your Ad Here.”
Cut to the guys walking out of the sky banner shop. Forte remarks, “I can’t believe they charged us $50 a letter.” Arnett replies, “That’s why we kept it short.”
Now, the audience (well, me, probably the only person watching this very dumb movie on HBOMax) thinks, “This will be a kind of long message. That’s the bit.”
Quite the contrary, my friend.
Similar to Forte’s legendary spelling bee sketch on SNL or Odenkirk’s drawn out “Mr. Show” interconnecting episodes, the joke here goes so long that it reaches a point where you can’t even believe it’s gleefully still chugging along.
The banner in the sky begins:
“Hi, my name is John and I’m his brother Dean. Hi.”
I’m already laughing. That message alone costs over $2000.
It continues: “We’ve got a little situation here and boy, could we use your help.”
“How can you help? Well, sit back and relax, we’re about to tell you. You can start by grabbing a pen and paper to write down some information.”
And I’ll leave it at that. If you read this far, you deserve the courtesy of not having every joke spoiled.
However, I will say that the scene goes on for FIVE more minutes and keeps getting explosively funnier to the point where I had tears in my eyes from laughing.
Once it concluded, I ran it back for Anna who loved it just as much as me. Later that night, her dad, a fellow comedy nerd, doubled over laughing.
If you want to catch this ridiculous and often cringeworthy movie in its entirety, it’s running on HBOMax until Sept. 30.
Thankfully though, the sky banner scene is available on YouTube thanks to user “UncleKappy.”
Bless you, UncleKappy.
Watch whichever version you like- I don’t gain anything either way other than knowing you had the satisfaction of also witnessing something gloriously dumb trapped in a movie not worthy of its genius.
All of a sudden…
POOF!
*Levy turns into a bat and flies off into the night
(That’s the end)
