Little Brother (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Matt Spicer

Starring:  John Cena, Eric Andre, Michelle Monaghan, Christopher Meloni, Sherry Cola

Little Brother is raunchy, yes, but not overly so and it has a heart.  I'm not familiar with Eric Andre, but from what I've gathered he specializes in raunch.  In Little Brother, he leans on that while also creating a sympathetic foil to John Cena's Rudd Landy, a famed realtor to the stars who envies his older brother Josh (Meloni) and wants to crank up his fame level to 11.  As he's plotting this, his "little brother" Marcus (Andre), after reading an email supposedly sent by Rudd, decides to escape from rehab to travel to New York to support Rudd.  

Well, things don't go that smoothly.  Years ago, Rudd enrolled in a Big Brothers program in an attempt to ingratiate himself to colleges.  One day, he abandons poor Marcus on the basketball part after promising they would always be brothers.  Marcus took the offhand statement to heart.  Rudd pretty much forgot about him until they reunite when Marcus is hospitalized.  Rudd is guilted into allowing Marcus to stay with him.  Marcus tries to be a help to Rudd, but those efforts usually go south.  Despite it all, Marcus remains true to his pledge to help Rudd, even as Rudd stars in a reality show and Marcus becomes a television star as Rudd's sidekick. 

It turns out Rudd never communicated with Marcus, but all correspondence was sent by Rudd's loyal assistant (Cola), who feels sorry for Marcus.  Cena, a gifted comic actor, is the straight man while Andre infuses Marcus with touching vulnerability even as his attempts to reunite with Rudd go haywire.  Little Brother could do without some of the gross-out slapstick, but it never loses its center, which is the idea that these two men needed each other more than they ever could've imagined.  The results, while of course predictable, are touching.