Netflix And Chill: Little Brother (2026)

The last movie I saw helmed by director Matt Spicer was the very good Ingrid Goes West, but I didn't know that until checking on some details after watching this, a fairly broad comedy that feels miles away from his previous feature. Look closer, however, and there are some similarities to be found about the way people present themselves and how their perception of others can be affected.

John Cena plays Rudd Landy, a successful real estate agent who is about to take his career up a level with an appearance on a reality TV show. That might help him finally get out from under the shadow of his super-rich older brother, Josh (Christopher Meloni). Which makes it a particularly bad time for Rudd to end up reconnecting with his little brother, Marcus (Eric André). Marcus isn't related to Rudd by blood, but they were placed together once when Rudd participated in the Big Brother program. Rudd's wife, Deirdre (Michelle Monaghan), thinks it would be nice to give Marcus a warm welcome, and some time to recover after a recent car accident. Rudd isn't so sure, but he's unaware that Marcus believes they have been communicating with one another for some time, thanks to an ongoing email chain handled by Rudd's assistant, Mia (Sherry Cola).

Written by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel, Little Brother starts off as exactly the kind of film you expect it to be. Cena's character is uptight and a bit selfish, and André brings some chaos with his behaviour and circumstances. It's never aiming to be believable, particularly when Monaghan's character accepts some specific advice for helping her husband relax, and viewers will be waiting to see how things escalate until the wild and whacky character is accepted by someone who has to accept that they could benefit from sometimes being on his wavelength.

The pleasant surprise here, in terms of both the screenplay and the performances, comes from the fact that things actually settle down before the third act. Marcus is loud and kooky for his early scenes, but he soon shows himself to just be a happy-go-lucky and optimistic individual with a genuine aim to help others. The biggest problem with Marcus is how Rudd views him, projecting his own insecurities and stress on to someone who is only ever trying to help him. I know that I am still making this sound like a hundred other comedies in the same vein, but you have to trust me when I say that it becomes better when it provides a bit of extra context and emotional impact. Spicer doesn't have to dive deep into any bag of directorial tricks, and it became tiresome a while ago to watch a comedy in which a main character starts to trip out, but he does well to keep the tone balanced as things move from silly to being a bit more serious.

Cena is good in the lead role, and it's in line with other comedy roles he's landed in the past decade. He pairs up quite well with André, who manages to be both chaotic and quite sweet. Monaghan does the understanding wife role that she seems to be offered for every second movie, Meloni is entertainingly n braggadocious, and Cola is good fun as the assistant who knows more about Marcus than anyone else onscreen. Ego Nwodim and Caleb Hearon also do well, playing the people in charge of manipulating shots and edits to optimise their reality show, and Bryce Gheisar and Pilot Bunch are the teen sons who end up warming to "Uncle Marcus". It's also worth mentioning Tony Torn, who is in scenes that almost bookend the main narrative, and provides a couple of big laughs when he reappears before the end credits roll.

I'm still not going to go out of my way to strongly recommend this to everyone, there's that feeling throughout that it's another one of those movies that feels a bit more like "content" than anything else, but I stand by my view of this being a bit better than I expected, mainly thanks to the developments that add dimension to a character who could have easily been presented as an entertaining and idiotic nuisance from start to finish. Add a point if you're a big fan of either lead. Take away a handful of points if you can't stand them.

6/10

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Prime Time: Balls Up (2026)

If you want to know the level of care and thought that went into writing and directing Balls Up then you should know that it's set during a football world cup tournament in Brazil. In 2025. I'm no great follower of sports, and certainly no football expert, but even I know that the World Cup has taken place every four years since it began back in 1930 (with the exception of a couple of tournaments that were not played due to a little historical event known as WWII). 

Directed by Peter "How Far The Mighty Can Fall" Farrelly, and written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (two men who have proven that they could be funny on past projects), this tall tale concerns Brad (Mark Wahlberg) and Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser), two men who are aiming to make their latest prophylactic (one that covers both testicles as well as the shaft of the penis) the only one to be features in the World Cup final. Things don't go to plan though, and Brad and Elijah soon end up stumbling from one mess to another, seemingly pursued by every Brazilian football fan.

I never thought I would say this, but I think Mark Wahlberg needs a Ted 3 to save him before he hits any new lows that he won't be able to come back from. It's almost as if he's become so enslaved by the streaming services, and their paychecks (of course), that he has forgotten how the movie business works when it comes to stars maintaining their value. I could be very wrong, but right now . . . if Wahlberg was a stock market commodity then people would be selling their shares before the inevitable spiral and crash. Hauser is also devaluing himself, but he at least has a fairly varied selection of features that offer him a chance to hold on to enough goodwill until another upswing saves him from potential obscurity. 

It's not just the leads who dive into this bog of eternal stench, however, and both Benjamin Bratt and Sacha Baron Cohen should have a stern word with their agents. At least Bratt isn't onscreen for much of the runtime. Cohen is a big presence in the middle third, sadly, and does nothing to stop it from being a fairly laugh-free zone. Molly Shannon made me smile a few times, there's an amusing voice cameo from Larry David, but Eric André, Chelsey Crisp, Jackson Tozer, Daniela Melchior, and Eva De Dominici are sorely mistreated by a screenplay that's stinkier than Pepe Le Pew in self-defence mode.

If you're after some simple laughs then the opening scenes may give you some hope. There's nothing smart or gut-busting there, but at least one or two moments are entertainingly silly without having to feel connected to a whole wide world outwith the workplace environment. I'd advise you not to let that sense of hope fool you though. Sometimes, yes, hope can set you free, but it can just as easily set you up for a plunge into mirth-free darkness and pain. And that is what you get here. 

I was going to rate this a 2/10 for the opening scenes, but I decided to generously bump it up by one because I admit that I chuckled when Wahlberg and Hauser were shown performing a karaoke version of "Somebody That I Used To Know". Others may not be so easily amused, although there's a chance that my reaction was akin to someone being given a sip of water after three days wandering through a desert. Consider yourself duly warned.

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Mitchells Vs The Machines (2021)

Sometimes you cannot stop hearing about a new movie that everyone has been watching, and enjoying, and that was the case with The Mitchells Vs The Machines. I tried to keep my expectations in check, but I must admit that hearing almost unanimous praise for it made me think I was going to really like it. I also thought it was made by producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, considering how many people had to mention them while discussing the film (and I guess I just joined them). It's actually directed and co-written by Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe, although it definitely fits nicely within the selection of brilliant animated movies that Lord and Miller have delivered to audiences over the last decade or so.

Young Katie Mitchell is an aspiring film-maker who has just been accepted into a film school in California. The night before she is due to head off, however, her technophobic father, Rick, breaks her laptop, which could be the final nail in the coffin for their already-strained relationship. Desperate to think of a way to make amends, Rick decides to cancel Katie's flight, and packs up the car for a road trip for the whole family. That's him, Katie, Linda (Katie's mother), Aaron (Katie's younger brother), and a goofy dog named Monchi. As they drive on their lengthy trip, it eventually becomes apparent that there's an apocalyptic robot uprising taking place, all because a tech guru made a show of dismissing some super-smart computer AI for an upgraded line of robots that he assures everybody would never turn evil and try to destroy humanity . . . mere seconds before they all turn evil and try to destroy humanity. 

With an energetic animation style that may put some people off, and a runtime that is closer to two hours than ninety minutes, there's a feeling here that this is a film made by people who were allowed to have as much fun as possible, and incorporate a multitude of gags and homages within the storyline. It generally works really well though, and that approach allows the wide range of references and in-jokes to play out without feeling dated (not something I would always say about a film that features a Kill Bill reference, for example, although the fact that it's also very much playing on the Lone Wolf & Cub imagery also helps).

The voice cast is pretty perfect throughout. The Mitchell family are made up of Danny McBride (Rick/Dad), Maya Rudolph (Linda/Mum), Mike Rianda (Aaron), and Abbi Jacobson (Katie). They interact so well as a family unit that there are times when you can easily forget this is an animated movie. And the rest of the cast is full of delights, from Olivia Colman as PAL, the AI, to Fred Armisen and Beck Bennett as a pair of confused robots. There's a "perfect" set of neighbours, with the adults voiced by Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, a small role for Conan O'Brien, and some great Furby sound effects for one main sequence.

The lessons learned are ones that we've mainly seen before, but there's a rather unique viewpoint offered when Mr. Mitchell finally realises just how good the creative work of his daughter is, and why she puts so much energy into something that it turns out a lot of other people enjoy. It's something that a lot of young viewers will relate to, and maybe even a number of adults who have yet to realise that the only thing that matters when doing something you love is that YOU enjoy doing it (case in point . . . this blog).

Well worth seeing, and with definite sequel potential, The Mitchells Vs The Machines could have been a perfect 90-100 minute movie. It is, instead, a really good 113 minutes. That time spent in the company of it isn't wasted, but it notably affects the pacing, mostly in the first half.

8/10

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