The film "Brotherhood" is actually a litmus test for your ability to connect with today's college experience. If you are in touch with today's typical college fraternity/sorority lifestyle, you will likely think this film is excellent. If you are mostly out of touch, you will not likely connect to this film. Originally I rated this film 8 out of ten, but I changed it to 9 out of 10, simply because of the performances given by this film's rising stars, but I will get into that later.
If you consider yourself "middle of the road" when it comes to understanding college social scenes, see how you feel about this movie - it may help you decide how well you understand college life today, if you were asked this same question.
From what I can tell, the story is indeed fictional but based on real experiences and 'folk lore' or 'urban legends' of college life. Although I am not going to go into specific plot details, it is generally well-crafted and fun to watch.
From my previous movie reviews, I have a keen eye for performance. What stood out to me was the girl that came looking for her 'personal belongings' halfway through the story. At first glance, I was sure I had seen her in other movies, but I couldn't recall where. My trusty IMDb iphone app identified her to be Jennifer Sipes. This actress made the movie for me. If you do get a chance to see this film in theaters, her performance alone is worth the price of admission. There is something that really shines bright with her. Lou Taylor Pucci also does a very very good job. I was lucky enough to see "The Music Never Stopped" at Sundance and I think his performance in Brotherhood is at the same level. Jon Foster comes through as well, although his strength as an actor did not shine as bright as Jennifer Sipes and Lou Taylor Pucci. I don't blame Jon Foster, this is a small indie film, and he sometimes stumbles a little with delivery, slightly depreciating his performance, but I suspect this was due to a very compacted shooting schedule. I eagerly anticipate Jon's future performances in big budget studio films, because I think with a proper shooting schedule, he will really take off. Trevor Morgan to me was just OK. Unfortunately I could see him 'acting' at certain points. If you see this film on the big screen, you will see Pucci dominate Morgan in scenes that the two are in (from a purely acting perspective). Once again, I think Trevor Morgan had a tough job in this film, thus making it more difficult to perform with a short shooting cycle. Nonetheless, he is responsible for his screen presence, and he didn't meet my expectations. The scenes that Trevor Morgan and Arlen Escarpeta square off are the slowest of the film, and in my opinion, should be left out. It simply doesn't work as intended.
In summary, I would recommend this film. It rides along at a fast pace, comparable to a typical 'night-gone-wrong' thriller. Overall performances are good, but look for Lou Taylor Pucci and even more so Jennifer Sipes - Two actors with a very bright future. Jon Foster is close behind, and also has a big career ahead of him. I will give fair warning that you may find this film really, really, irritating if you are not connected to college life today, but if you are, you will associate well to the language, the pranks/initiations, and the race relations, all realistic and decently put together. What really separates this film from other indies in this genre is the acting. If for nothing else, see it for some inspiring performances by Hollywood's future stars.
