Welcome back to another issue of Your Movie Mage, where I discuss underrated movies across genres. Last week, we discussed the underrated semi-autobiographical film starring Pete Davidson, “The King of Staten Island.” This week, we’ll be talking about the lesser known, “My Blind Brother.”
“My Blind Brother” stars Nick Kroll as Bill, a jealous older brother, and Adam Scott as Robbie, who is Bill’s younger brother. Bill accidentally blinded Robbie when they were younger, and now Robbie does charity work for the blind, including through athletic events. Bill feels obligated to be Robbie’s guide for all of his events, despite him hating the activities.
The movie tackles the feelings of being a sibling to the golden child. Robbie is perfect in the eyes of his parents and, despite both brothers being adults, Robbie receives all his parents’ attention and adoration. This type of unequal treatment can easily lead to jealousy and anger between siblings. The movie highlights these feelings, which are evident in Bill’s expressions.
Another character, Rose, played by Jenny Slate, obsesses over the fear that she is a horrible person. Rose blames herself for the tragic death of her boyfriend and believes there’s an evil part of her that makes bad things happen to undeserving people. This impacts her actions and compels her to go out with Robbie, despite liking Bill more.
One issue is the movie didn’t feature any blind actors, despite being centered on blind people. Adam Scott did a great job playing Robbie, but at the very least, I think some other blind characters could have been played by blind actors.
We need more rom-coms that show that regular people can find love too. Oftentimes, romantic comedies center around interesting people with wild ambitions. This movie stands out for its melancholic realism that shows two people with their own issues and relatively boring lives falling in love.
Many films attempt to capture the nuances of sibling relationships and fail, but “My Blind Brother” stands out in this regard. It isn’t a perfect representation of being siblings, not that such a thing exists, but it does feel like they’re siblings. Their feelings for one another feel real. The unspoken resentment and jealousy that come with growing up with someone are almost inexplicable to those who don’t have siblings or a relationship with them.
While the movie is predictable in its feel-goodness, the characters are intriguing and relatable, which makes you want to see their predictable happy ending.
“My Blind Brother” also explores disabilities. The film features Robbie, a lead character who’s disabled and flawed. Characters representing marginalized groups are not always created with flaws or nuance, which makes for unrealistic, surface level characters. Robbie was a very interesting character with depth. Despite being a jerk most of the time, we also see his insecurity and goodness.
This film is not loved by many, but I think there’s something special in it. I’ve watched it many times and enjoyed every minute of it. It isn’t groundbreaking, but not every movie needs to be. Sometimes it’s nice to watch a movie that makes you feel understood, enabling you to relate to characters that find happiness.
I give this movie an underratedness score of 4/5 because I have yet to meet someone else who’s seen the movie and, from reviews online, those who have seen it don’t seem to appreciate it.