Brother's Justice (2010)

Directors:

David Palmer
Dax Shepard

Writer:

Dax Shepard (written by)

Release Date:

20 April 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Not every idea is a winner

Plot:

Motivated by Box Office statistics, Dax Shepard has made a decision to leave comedy to pursue his dream of becoming an international Martial Arts action star.

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Wrestling | Producer | Rejection | Pitch

Cast

Dax Shepard	...	Himself / Waylan / Patrick Jeung / Patrick Justice
Nate Tuck	...	Nate
Greg Siegel	...	Greg
James Feldman	...	James
Andrew Panay	...	Andres
Ashton Kutcher	...	Himself
Tom Arnold	...	Himself / Mark 'Pappy' Jeung
Laura Labo	...	Laura
Jon Favreau	...	Himself
Josh Temple	...	Willie
Rome Shadanloo	...	Waylan's Love
Chevonne Moore	...	Chevonne
Jordan Morris	...	Jordan
Bradley Cooper	...	Himself / Dwight Sage
David Koechner	...	Himself / Senior
Charlie Koechner	...	Charlie
Jess Rowland	...	Rick
Michael Rosenbaum	...	Dwayne Sage
Ryan Hansen	...	Lance Jeung
Steve Tisch	...	Steve
Seth Green	...	Himself
David Palmer	...	Camera Guy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Margot Koechner	...	Herself
Laura Labo	...	Laura

Directed by
David Palmer
Dax Shepard

Writing credits
Dax Shepard		(written by)

Produced by
Nate Tuck	....	producer

Original Music by
Julian Wass

Cinematography by
David Palmer

Film Editing by
Dan Ohara

Costume Design by
Abigail Keever

Sound Department
Luke Bechthold	....	sound re-recording mixer

Stunts
Kiki Ebsen	....	stunt double: Bradley Cooper
Shannon Piazza	....	stunt double: Michael Rosenbaum
Dax Shepard	....	stunts

Production Companies

• Palmer Productions
• Primate Pictures

Distributors

• Well Go (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• EuroVideo (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Phoenicia Pictures (2010) (Non-USA) (all media) (Middle East)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (DVD)
• Tribeca Film (2011) (USA) (all media)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:MA (2011) | South Korea:15

Company:

Palmer Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Conan: The Island of Misfit Roys: Scheider Edition (#2.20)" (2011)

Dax Shepard is smart, funny and charming, "Brother's Justice" really isn't any of that

A "documentary" about Dax Shepard retiring from comedy so he can pursue his dream of becoming a Martial Arts action star. Seriously. OK, maybe not so seriously. The beginning has Dax and his producing partner Nate Tucker going from agent to lawyer to producers to actors to directors to sell his karate idea "Brother's Justice", well, at this stage it's really just a title. When it's funny, it's very funny.

The problem is, when it's not funny, it's not anything. For an hour and a half run time, it's awfully long for a one-joke movie. Because really, that's all this is, one joke about Shepard trying to sell Hollywood on the idea of him becoming an action star in the ilk of Steven Segal. The idea that this documentary is serious is supposed to be funny, but I can't take this seriously. I've seen enough of Shepard in both comedy and drama roles that I know he's not actually this stupid.

It's cool that so many Hollywood hot-shots were willing to make themselves look like arrogant jerks for the sake of Dax Shepard and this (documentary? movie? —I don't know what to call it). At least their parts mostly work because Jon Favreau, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper and Tom Arnold can all do comedy and drama.

Ironically, unlike Dax's "successful" comedies like "Employee of the Month" (2006) and "When in Rome" (2010), "Brother's Justice" actually has all the elements of a good story: a sympathetic character (who doesn't want to see a good guy succeed in Hollywood?), conflict (Dax thinks it's a good idea, Hollywood does not), drama, comedy, and then the idea that friendship rises above everything. But none of that really works here.

Unintentionally, "Brother's Justice" just proves that Dax Shepard is best suited for comedy, or maybe that's its entire purpose. I never was sure if I was supposed to take this seriously or as one long joke. I'm sorry Dax, but I will always highly value your dramatic work in "Parenthood" and "The Freebie" (2010).