I still am a little unsure on how I feel about this film, which is why it has taken me so long to actually write a review for it. This was a huge mixed bag, some parts I enjoyed, other parts I didn’t really like and it felt like too many genre’s and ideas thrown into one and it didn’t entirely work. The story is about destranged twin brothers who are total opposites, one is a College Professor and the other grows pot. The brother who grows pot has gotten himself into some trouble and he lures his brother back to their small town in order to get him to help.
The real appeal of this film is Edward Norton, he is one of my favourite actors going back to 1996 with Primal Fear. And when I found out he was playing dual roles I had to see this film. He is fantastic as the brothers Bill and Brady, and he really does make you believe there are two different people playing them. They each have their own personality, their own mannerisms and of course until a certain point they both look quite a bit different. He does a great job at forming these characters, however both are not particularly all that likable. He has a nice supporting cast with the always lovely Melanie Lynskey, Keri Russell and Susan Sarondon. Also extremely good was Tim Blake Nelson as Bolger, I found him to be quite good here and he worked extremely well opposite Norton. Watch out for a cameo by Richard Dreyfuss who is quite memorable.
The problems I had with this film is it felt like it wanted to be 5 films all in one, changing genre far too often. At times it feels like a comedy, then a black comedy, then a drama, then a crime caper, it changes continuously and I found that to be extremely annoying. It almost felt like it wanted to be a Coen Brothers film like Fargo, but failed. As I mentioned I did enjoy some parts, other parts I didn’t, the pacing was a little off at parts as well. Sometimes it flowed quite well, other times it didn’t and I lost a bit of interest. I do feel it is worth a watch if you are a Norton fan because his performance alone is fantastic and worth seeing. I think it really shows what a strong actor he is and how he can craft something so well, even though the material he was given wasn’t the best. I would say this is an average film, that should have been much better than it turned out to be.
The Super Network 