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My Brother's Wedding

Play trailer Poster for My Brother's Wedding 1983 1h 56m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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89% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A man (Everett Silas) must choose between attending his brother's wedding or the funeral of his best friend.

Critics Reviews

View All (9) Critics Reviews
Richard Brody New Yorker Burnett fills the film with voices and memories, humor and rage; his vision of neighborhood life has an ample, passionate generosity. Feb 1, 2021 Full Review Adam Nayman The Ringer My Brother's Wedding is, above all, representative of a strain of American independent cinema conceived and produced in opposition to (and largely in spite of) the surrounding pop-culture climate. Apr 15, 2019 Full Review Mark Holcomb Time Out Rated: 4/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Ying Ying Wu San Francisco Examiner Burnett's second feature, My Brother's Wedding, is an amusing, highly personal insider's view of conflicting values in black America. Jan 10, 2023 Full Review Barbara Shulgasser Common Sense Media '80s film about family strife has mature themes. Rated: 2/5 Aug 21, 2020 Full Review Nathanael Hood Unseen Films Reaffirms Burnett as one of black cinema's greatest poets. Rated: 8/10 Jun 11, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (22) audience reviews
thomas w The dialog is stilted, the acting is amateurish, the characters are not particularly likable, the story is uninspired, and the camera work is nothing special. Other than that, it's terrific. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This has been one of the worst movies I have seen. The acting was horrible, and the storyline was not well thought out. I recommond that all aspiring filmmakers see this movie and use it as a guide of what not to do. So many scenes didn't make any sense and should have been left on the editing floor. The cinematographer should have white balanced the camera before he shot this. I know this was in the 80's but the scene where these two black men were just running and skipping for no reason made me cringe. I don't know how it made it to HBO Max but here it is. Don't waist your time. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Of course, as a messy and unrefined exploration of the material social bonds that transcend the ideological family unit, it could just as aptly be titled MY BROTHER'S FUNERAL. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review walter m In "My Brother's Wedding," Pierce(Everett Silas), when he is not working for his parents'(Jessie Holms and Dennis Kemper) dry cleaning business, takes the time to look in on his grandparents. In the meantime, he is getting reading for his brother Wendell's(Monte Easter) wedding. And then Pierce's friend Solider(Ronnie Bell) gets released from prison. "My Brother's Wedding" depicts a working class African American milieu that is still rarely seen in movies today. Ironically enough, in this world, there is upward mobility and downward mobility(Soldier has a certain outlaw charm and charisma about him) but moving sideways or not at all like Pierce seems expert at is definitely frowned upon. But as insightful as that is, the movie suffers from a fractured narrative that can be frustrating at times.(This review and rating refer to the 2007 director's cut.) Even the ending that desperately tries to bring everything together, can also feel more than a little forced. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The acting is lousy, which really hurts a potentially fine film. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member I watched the director's cut, which is 35 minutes SHORTER than the original version. Refreshing to see a director who understands that sometimes less is more. What Burnett couldn't cut, however, were all the lousy performances. Everett Silas is fine in the lead, but almost everyone else is stiff and terrible. I also thought some of the writing was a bit sloppy. But the situations are set up well, and watching Pierce continually make such bad choices is both frustrating and endearing. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
My Brother's Wedding

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Movie Info

Synopsis A man (Everett Silas) must choose between attending his brother's wedding or the funeral of his best friend.
Director
Charles Burnett
Producer
Charles Burnett, Gaye Shannon-Burnett
Screenwriter
Charles Burnett
Production Co
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), Charles Burnett Productions
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Box Office (Gross USA)
$8.2K
Runtime
1h 56m