SXSW 2008 - THE MARCONI BROS. review
There’s a kernel of comedic brilliance at the core of The Marconi Bros. which never pops the way it should. The massive industry that has sprung up around weddings is ripe for parody and arguably under-exploited in film, and the notion of two sad-sack brothers from Long Island worming their way into a partnership with the self-proclaimed king of wedding videos brims with promise, but the film ultimately falls prey to a lack of focus and tallies more misses than hits when all is said and done.
Anthony (Brendan Sexton III) and Carmine (Dan Fogler) are stuck in dead-end jobs at their parents’ carpeting store, unable to convince their father they have more to offer than spare sets of hands in the warehouse. On a delivery to a posh home they meet wedding video guru Lou Burns (Jon Polito) and decide to chuck their present employ for jobs as Lou’s assistants. Moving out on their own for the first time, the brothers come up against a spread of obstacles in attempting to both establish their own identities and maintain their familial partnership.
Partnerships are central to Marconi - parents and children, siblings, bosses and employees, wives and husbands – and the film does manage a number of sweetly realized moments involving the strains inherent therein. The script, though, feels too episodic and blows by ample opportunities to further explore the dual dynamics at work throughout, in particular that of Anthony and Carmine with their parents. Marconi seems to fancy itself a mad-capped comedy and there are a spread of genuinely funny moments (including a hectic cross-cut montage at a lavish wedding), but without any real definition the characters’ failings and feudings end up grating.
Coen Brothers’ regular Polito gives the film his all, mingling gruff with grandiose and playing right into the film’s broad approach to humor. Sexton III and Fogler play polar opposites – Anthony’s quiet and reserved while Carmine’s aggressive and in-your-face. Both fail to shade their characters the way the story seems to require – each shifts closer to the other’s mentality at the end of their on-screen experience, but neither performance offers much evidence of the transition – just the end results.
The film contrasts looks throughout – dull and lifeless for the Marconi’s world, glossy and bright for the weddings. Music choices are inspired and enjoyable, and the film is edited with creativity and energy. The end credit roll is accompanied by a panel of humorous spoutings by (mostly drunken) wedding guests from an event filmed, natch, by co-directors Michael Canzoniero and Marco Ricci as they were working their way through film school.
The Marconi Bros. isn’t without redeeming qualities but it doesn’t jell the all the way and it’s a shame, because the ingredients assembled would’ve made for a unique experience.
