THE BROTHERS MCMULLEN

THE BROTHERS MCMULLEN are Barry (Burns), Patrick and Jack. After their cruel alcoholic father dies and their mother moves to Ireland to reunite with her long lost love, they use and misuse their Catholicism in New York City to deal with their own feeble love lives. Barry, a struggling screenwriter, vows to never fall in love and marry. Yet, he meets a girl named Audrey, and he instantly becomes attracted to her. Patrick, fresh out of college, gets an offer from his girlfriend's father for an apartment and a job. Yet, getting cold feet on "adulthood", he refuses the offer, looses his girlfriend and shines up to a former catholic girl with wanderlust. Jack celebrates his beautiful wifes 30th birthday. They seem to have the perfect marriage, yet the marriage bed stays cool, and Jack begins to heat up other beds.

THE BROTHERS MCMULLEN is a directorial debut from Ed Burns. Instead of celebrity fodder, he shapes an intimate character study of three complex and compelling brothers. Regrettably, the budget was low, and it shows in the film quality and art direction. Containing many obscenities and profanities, this film shows a Catholic family that upholds its faith as much as it demeans it. Addressing themes of interfaith marriage, adultery, birth control, abortion and commitment, this frank and often times sobering drama has some intersteing insights.