Brother White Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Brother White Blu-ray Movie Review

'Brother White' needs some color.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 11, 2012

The old adage says that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” but what is the road to mediocrity paved with? Brother White is an amiable enough feel good kind of comedy that thrusts a Caucasian Pastor appropriately surnamed White into an inner city Atlanta congregation made up almost entirely of African Americans, and while the film tries mightily to hit all the right notes (figuratively and literally, courtesy of a music subplot), it has a too pat and too circumscribed feeling that deprives it of ever really doing more than kind of limply slapping at the heartstrings, rather than tugging at them they way that was obviously aimed for. Pure Flix mainstay David A.R. White produced, co-wrote and stars in Brother White as Pastor James White, a nice guy who is pretty far down the ministerial totem pole at one of those Los Angeles mega-churches that seem more like shopping malls for God rather than houses of worship. When his Sunday School lesson about Noah’s Ark goes horribly awry (in one of the film’s funnier sequences), the gargantuan assemblage’s head honcho, one of those holier than thou televangelists, here named Johnny Kingman (Ray Wise), deports Pastor White and his just slightly dysfunctional family south to Atlanta to hopefully save a struggling inner city church. Right off the bat a major clue is given about at least one thing that ails Brother White: a lack of real satirical voice or commitment. While this is obviously not supposed to be a ribald take down of organized religion, there’s a fleeting attempt to paint Kingman and his huge auditorium sized church as just a tad bit—well, unseemly, with Kingman exhorting his believers that he’s no better than they are just because he drives a Ferrari and they don’t. If Brother White really had wanted to generate laughs while at the same time poking a little well deserved fun at a group of Christians who don’t exactly practice what they (literally) preach, it could have made a valid point here. Instead, Kingman ends up being a kind of bland, well intended multimillionaire minister who really isn’t that venal when you get right down to it. Where’s the attitude in a decision like that?

The White brood finds itself ensconced in a shabby apartment nestled atop a really shabby inner city Atlanta church. Along with the Pastor is his wife, the ludicrously but “hey, it’s supposed to be funny” named Lily White (played by David A.R. White’s real wife, Andrea Logan White). (Lily's ultrarich parents are played by Bruce Davison and Saturday Night Live's Victoria Jackson in what amounts to little more than cameos in the brief Los Angeles prelude). Also in the White family is a sulking teen daughter Emma (Anna Margaret) and an adorable little boy Cooper (Gibson Sjobeck). The Whites are quickly introduced to a cast of eccentrics manning (and woman-ing) the church, included Deacon Hill (Reginald VelJohnson), ultra shy church secretary Delsey (NRaca) and anything but shy church music director Veena (Jackée Harry). White’s initial excitement over being the head pastor for a church is immediately quelled by the predicament he finds himself in, which includes a congregation not exactly ready for an “Angelino” minister, a church in disrepair and about to be foreclosed on, and a family not exactly thrilled to be living in the squalid confines of a dingy apartment in Atlanta. But as they say, God works in mysterious ways, and that of course is part of the none too subtle message delivered in Brother White.

The set up here is redolent of a not very innovative television series (and buried in some of the press materials found online for this feature is the suggestion that this was indeed filmed as a movie of the week and intended as the pilot for a television series), but what really hobbles Brother White is its strangely telescoped time frame. The Whites get to Atlanta, are confronted with myriad problems, and then almost before the problems have even been presented to the audience, they’re “miraculously” solved. There’s no drama here, part of which is simply because the film plays out in what seems to be (unless I missed something, which I don’t think I did) just a few days. Pastor White goes from a bumbling incompetent to beloved minister, saving souls, saving the church from destruction and managing to get none other than Bebe Winans to come sing to help generate some much needed cash. All of this would have played better with just a little more time spent developing the conflicts before all of them are just resolved with the wave of a Christ-like hand.

Feel good movies need moments of not feeling good to achieve the desired results at the payoff. Brother White glides through way too many moments of supposed friction too quickly and then just as easily glides to a conclusion where everything is hunky dory, with virtually no dramatic through line, and in the case of one subplot involving the “secret identity” of a neighborhood thug, absolutely no logic there, either. The film is amiable enough and will no doubt appeal to believers who want a little entertainment at their church movie nights, but the real disappointment here is that Brother White could have had some muscle, and with it, a much more potent message. Like the wife character, the film is too “lily white” for its own good. The best films use well developed drama and pathos to deliver color, not shades of beige.

Brother White Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Brother White is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Pure Flix Entertainment with an MPEG-2 1080p encoded transfer in 1.78:1. The fact that all of Pure Flix Entertainment's Blu-ray releases thus far have used the relatively outdated MPEG-2 codec is perhaps a sign that the studio hasn't yet fully embraced the high definition medium and is testing the waters with these products (something perhaps also pointed to by the lack of a lossless audio option on this release, as with all the other Pure Flix releases reviewed here thus far). The image here is awfully redolent of television, with little depth or nuance. Colors are okay, but rarely pop, and a lot of the dimly lit interior scenes have really murky shadow detail and in a couple of instances outright crush. There are a few establishing shots that obviously utilize stock footage, though there's no hugely discernable difference in the image quality between those sequences and the bulk of the film.

Brother White Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Brother White, as alluded to above, features only a standard lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, and this film certainly could have benefited from a lossless surround track, as there's quite a bit of really good source music utilized here, including of course by guest artist BeBe Winans. Surround activity is rather sporadic here, some of that simply due to the fact that so much of the film takes place in small quarters and involves just a couple of characters talking. A couple of outdoor sequences open things up slightly, as does a bar scene involving a wager over a game of pool. But overall this is a pretty limited soundtrack that is further hampered by not being lossy. Hopefully Pure Flix will step up to the plate with lossless audio on their future releases, especially if they include as much fine music as this release does.

Brother White Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features David A.R. White and director Brian Herzlinger talking quite a bit about everything from pre-production to filming. The two are easily conversational with each other and this is an enjoyable if kind of lightweight commentary.


• Behind the Scenes (HD; 18:39) is a standard though surprisingly enjoyable assortment of interviews, film clips and scenes of the shoot.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 5:26) offers a little more Victoria Jackson and Bruce Davison with an additional gospel scene thrown in for good measure.


• Bloopers (HD; 1:53) proves David A.R. White isn't quite ready to star in a remake of The Hustler.


• Havin' Church (HD; 1:31) appears to be another outtake, with shaky camera moves and inconsistently mixed audio. Hard to see what was being aimed for here.

Brother White Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brother White starts off strongly, with what seems for a moment is going to be a nicely done takedown of mega- churches, along with a goofy but quite funny sequence involving distressed kids thinking about the upshot of the Biblical flood and Noah's Ark. But then things just get bland in a hurry. The "villains" here are as unmenacing as the heroes are uninspiring. The film is congenial, but it could have been a lot more. This is a film with too much sugar (probably better defined as saccharine), and not enough spice. Had the film spent some more time developing its "problems," instead of just marauding through them willy-nilly, that would have given it some emotional resonance once they all are solved with barely a peep. Church groups may want to consider this film as completely undemanding fare that will probably keep kids entertained but will do little to uplift or inspire adults.