source: Awful Nice

James pumphrey is the man and this movie is great.

Wanted to like but the slacking brother is unlikeable trash. Someone needed to put him and this movie out of their misery.

A really funny movie that will remind you of someone you grew up with or a dumb brother.

Overall, the brothers show us a good time, sometimes silly, sometimes serious and often funny. They get along better in some scenes than they do in others, and sometimes they want to kill each other. And I was very grateful this was on broadcast TV, because the sound went out so often (along with the speaker's mouth being blurred) it was sometimes hard to follow what was going on, but I really don't think I would want to hear what I missed. I mean I really didn't. Sheriff Wegman and Deputy Bruce play "good cop, bad cop". Both cops play both parts, but Bruce is funnier. And dumber. I think Ivan is the man Jim decided to hire to fix up the cabin when the brothers realized they were The Three Stooges ("That's coming out of my half" "That's coming out of your half."). Also, I recognized the voice of Yakov Smirnoff but didn't realize that was really him until the credits. The cabin is too much of a dump so they rent a motel room from another guy who is quite a character. No, I don't know his name. You have to stay around for the closing credits. Not just because of all the funny stuff in the credits themselves (I have never seen some of the wacky stuff that was done), but also the great musical performance on the left side of the screen. I hesitate to call it bluegrass not only because I'm not sure you can have drums in bluegrass, but also because Dr. Ralph Stanley once said what he does is old time, not bluegrass. It's actually a nice polished but heavily traditional sound with fiddles and banjo. It's not a bad movie if you can see it cleaned up.

I don't understand how more people aren't talking about this movie. Awful Nice has to be one of the funniest movies I've seen since I was kid. It's not at all perfect, but it's absolutely hilarious, and just goes for it so hard. I can understand if indie film audiences don't get it. This is more Tommy Boy and It's Always Sunny than it is Sideways or Tiny Furniture (which I like by the way), but I don't understand the mixed reviews and am honestly surprised more people haven't found this film by now. It seems like there's a cult following, but not to the point that you're hearing about it. I first heard about Awful Nice on Doug Loves Movies, and added it to my Netflix Queue that night. I then of course forgot about it for 8 months. Then I saw it on the top ten on the pirate bay (I was just looking, I promise...) and decided I had to finally watch it. Very glad that I did. I laughed my balls off for 90 minutes straight. It reminded me at points of Step Brothers and Wet Hot American Summer, and in a different (and almost certainly worse) universe it would be a huge studio comedy starring Jason Sudekis and Paul Rudd. It a better universe, this would've been the next Swingers or Foot Fist Way. Maybe it is and I just haven't heard about it. Either way, if you like funny movies, give this a spin. You won't be disappointed.

Could be the funniest film I've seen in 5-6 years... Like it consistently killed me with laughter, to the point that I actually missed things because I was laughing so hard. The relationship of the brothers hinges on perfection and the dialogue is snappy with a consistent edge of hilarity. Not sure how it hasn't become a word of mouth hit like Foot Fist Way or Wet Hot American Summer. I suppose that's more a sign of the times than anything else, but seriously, this movie is friggin' hilarious. I don't get why it has so many poor ratings. I laughed from start to finish, and didn't find anything offensive or hard to follow or frustrating or whatever. No qualms with this flick at all. Just good times, and the kept rolling. Everyone should run to their Netflix and watch this movie.

None of the characters in this movie are likable. I'm reasonably sure that one brother was supposed to be the screw up with no direction or motivation and the other brother was supposed to have had his life more or less 'together' (and then of course we all learn a clichéd lesson), but I found both of the characters equally unlikeable and deplorable. I pretty much wanted to see both main characters die in a horrific accident so the movie would end and I wouldn't have to watch any more. I actually stopped watching the movie and went and did some housework because it was more entertaining. I have a policy of watching till the end for 'redeeming features', but I was disappointed.... I'm giving it some points because the filming, editing, sound were all fine...

Imagine Step Brothers meets Mouse Hunt; that's Awful Nice. Sibling rivalries are ripe territory for comedies. It's the sort of situation where years-long resentments boil over and make a general mess of things. It's funny because it's family, and it's more spiteful because it's family, and there's just a bit of sadness in there too (since it's family). There's an example of this early on in Awful Nice. Jim (James Pumphrey) and Dave (Alex Rennie) are the squabbling siblings in question. They're having dinner with family following their dad's funeral. After a toast, Jim and Dave sip their champagne. They they eye each other, they realize that they're inexplicably trying to gulp their champagne faster. The champagne done, they each pick up their glasses of beer. Then the water. The race continues with a gravy boat. And then they try to beat the s**t out of each other as their relatives look on shocked. (There's an Alonzo Mourning rookie card involved in this too, one that I may have in a box somewhere.) These kinds of absurd escalations into slapstick (and cartoon violence) are what Awful Nice does Best. That isn't to say it's dialog driven humor isn't spot on as well. There's a certain quickness to the back and forths between the two brothers in this movie that reminds me of Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn in Swingers. The dialogue comes fast, the insults and jabs arrive quicker, and there's a sense of personality that arises from comic beat to comic beat. Beyond the verbal and physical comedy in Awful Nice, there's a good knack for little details and sight gags. There's the pet tarantula in the opening scene which helps lend an extra layer of sordidness to what Dave's life in the tepee must have been like. A later throwaway moment involving Tabasco sauce also builds a sense of rough-and-tumble history. In the background in an office scene, there's a piece of art featuring a bear driving a speedboat. Awful Nice shoots from gag to gag rapidly, which makes the movie breeze by, but the last third feels like it's maybe lacking something toward the end. It's not bad and it thankfully doesn't become sentimental in an unearned way. They could have easily gone there, but the movie is resistant to such easy, feel-good moments that would undermine the bitterness of it's main relationship. I think that's admirable, actually, since it'd be easy to go for some easy emotional beat and wrap up the film with a bow. But the resolution does come a little too easy and it's not as satisfying as everything that leads up to it. In some ways what happens is telegraphed well in advance, and for a film where the jokes seem to come out of nowhere, something that I could see coming feels a bit disappointing. In that respect, I wish the plot was treated more like the jokes in the film, that there'd be a sense of surprise to both the set-up and the punchline. And yet I can't completely hold this movie's faults against it, since it did it's job as a comedy and as a story. It made me laugh throughout, and it made me care about the characters, and ultimately, that's what matters. I highly recommend giving this movie a spin at your local Netflix.

Sometimes a story played out on film serves as a motivator or is inspiring or just plain entertaining, however in the case of the independent film Awful Nice, I am still attempting to categorize it. The story begins with Jim (James Pumphrey) retrieving his younger brother Dave (Alex Rennie) to return home and attend the memorial services for their recently deceased father. The condition and location in which Jim finds Dave was the first indication that somebody has issues. This film did something that has never happened to me before, I laughed uproariously at some very funny sequences, but once the film was over I was left feeling unfulfilled. Usually if it is a good comedy, the emotion elicited is upbeat and cheery but not with this film. The characters Dave and Jim both reminded me of how competitive brothers can be having grown up in a household with three brothers myself, but the incessant arguing and fighting was just too much. I continuously asked myself if Jim is the smart one why does he keep following advice from Dave. And then you realize that after a while some of the lunacy starts to make some sense. I do wonder what inspired writer Alex Rennie to create this outlandish road trip, brothers bonding story, and whether the character Dave was based in part on Alex's own life. The reason that I ask this question is because Mr. Rennie was so convincing with his particular kind of crazy as Dave. He was quick witted, rationalized everything from a spoiled brat point of view and took no responsibility for anything in his life all while guilting Jim into mindless submission. Mr. Rennie is either a really good actor or he really is Dave. I've never been to Branson, but there was a huge inference that it is overrun with Russian Mafia and prostitution, which is the world that Jim and Dave's father's business partner seemed to be very much a part of. Since I watch a lot of Law and Order reruns it was easy to spot Christopher Meloni (Jon Charbineau) in spite of the mustache, the horrible accent, and the worse wig ever. He did a great job of portraying a sleazy businessman not that he did anything that was sleazy, he just really looked the part. I still do not know what the title related to, I suppose they used Awful Nice because My Idiot Brother was already taken.