{"id":1236872371,"date":"2026-09-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/variety.com\/?p=1236872371"},"modified":"2026-09-23T16:56:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T23:56:05","slug":"brothers-review-matthew-mcconaughey-woody-harrelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/reviews\/brothers-review-matthew-mcconaughey-woody-harrelson-1236872371\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s Comic Chemistry Isn’t Enough to Make ‘Brothers’ a Compelling Show: TV Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cYou have all the hallmarks of a world-class politician,\u201d campaign manager Gwen (Lisa Gilroy) tells her client Matthew McConaughey (Matthew McConaughey). \u201cHowever, your Achilles\u2019 heel is that you\u2019ve been a celebrity for so long that your brain has turned into a big old sloppy pile of goo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe literal premise of the Apple TV comedy \u201cBrothers\u201d is that McConaughey and his friend\/fellow Texan\/erstwhile co-star Woody Harrelson, also playing himself, may be biological relatives, a possibility they explore while shacked up at McConaughey\u2019s Austin-area ranch. (The actors are also credited as co-creators alongside David West Read and showrunner Lee Eisenberg.) But the comic premise is something closer to Gwen\u2019s observation: that beyond their state of origin and a certain folksy charisma, these two besties share the brain disease that is fame, and when together exacerbate each other\u2019s symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cBrothers\u201d has plenty of scenes that deliver on this “Dumb and Dumber”-adjacent concept. The pair don ridiculous costumes to prove people don\u2019t tolerate their music just because they\u2019re recognizable, and bicker about hunting (country boy McConaughey is pro, vegan Harrelson is con) on a drive in a keyed-up version of the \u201cTrue Detective\u201d car rides. This platonic \u2014 or perhaps filial \u2014 chemistry still isn\u2019t enough to make \u201cBrothers\u201d feel like a real show instead of an overlong comedy sketch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tTake Gwen, who\u2019s consulting McConaughey on a run for governor. The storyline is a nod to the star\u2019s flirtation with political office, which got serious enough in 2022 to necessitate an announcement<\/a> that he wouldn\u2019t throw his hat in the ring. But it\u2019s mostly a means to give McConaughey\u2019s fictional avatar a more active plot driver than wondering whether he and Harrelson might be related. The gubernatorial bid certainly isn\u2019t <\/em>there because McConaughey feels the need to articulate any specific political beliefs, a vagueness \u201cBrothers\u201d gently mocks but also indulges. Real-life Texas is in the middle of a highly contentious senate race; TV Texas is a world with no Greg Abbott, nor a president who\u2019s already a cautionary tale in what happens when pop culture and politics collide. Acknowledging either might mean \u201cBrothers\u201d would have to be something weightier and more fleshed-out than a dopey (in a fun way!) hangout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tA reluctance to get messy or in any way unflattering is a common quality of star-driven shows, and it\u2019s seemingly magnified when two of them are portraying themselves. \u201cBrothers\u201d prefers a soft poke to a sharp jab: Harrelson is a pot-smoking hippie who declines AC because he\u2019s \u201coff freon,\u201d but when he makes a passing mention of COVID, it\u2019s not to share his take on masking and vaccines<\/a>; McConaughey quotes his own Lincoln commercials when giving his son a pep talk, but the greatest insecurity he\u2019ll cop to is caring too much about being a good husband and father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tInstead of real insight or self-scrutiny, we get surface-level references to the friends\u2019 filmographies. (These callbacks are oddly skewed toward McConaughey\u2019s CV over Harrelson\u2019s, perhaps because the show takes place on his turf.) The \u201cTrue Detective\u201d theme plays as a character collects samples for a DNA test, while McConaughey lets his son Wyatt (Nolan Almeida) borrow his actual car from \u201cDazed and Confused\u201d to play dress-up. These allusions rarely inspire a reaction stronger than an amused smile, nor do they try especially hard to do so. \u201cBrothers\u201d is content to trade in its dynamic duo\u2019s public images rather than subvert or complicate them, which is fine \u2014 though the resulting vacuum is one of several blank spaces where a real sense of purpose could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cBrothers\u201d is, of course, a show about family, and the show populates its ensemble with lightly distorted bizarro versions of the friends\u2019 loved ones. Holland Taylor cakes on makeup and thick layers of twang as McConaughey\u2019s mother, known to all as \u201cMa Mac,\u201d whose drunken ramblings prompt Harrelson to do some genetic detective work. No one else makes as strong an impression. In particular, the wives \u2014 their show names are Valentina (Natalie Martinez) and Joy (Brittany Ishibashi), but their role and function is accurately summed up as \u201cthe wives\u201d \u2014 are given almost nothing to do besides roll their eyes at their husbands’ antics. Woody and Matthew forgot about Valentine\u2019s Day? Boys will be boys!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe kids get more stories of their own, though not ones that ever threaten to pull the spotlight away from their dads. The Harrelsons first set out for Austin (in a solar-powered converted schoolbus, of course) after Woody\u2019s daughter Olive (Highdee Kuan) breaks off her engagement. While I\u2019m always happy to see Skyler Gisondo of “The Righteous Gemstones,” who shows up halfway through the season as the ex-fianc\u00e9, he\u2019s underused in a role whose definition stops at \u201cclingy drip.\u201d A romance between Wyatt and Olive\u2019s sister Kai (Oona Yaffe) \u2014 carefully excused with repeated reminders that Kai is adopted, so there\u2019s no way they\u2019re doing incest \u2014 is equally thin. \u201cBrothers\u201d has eyes for only one central relationship, and every second spent on satellite pairings sags with infectious boredom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tFor long stretches of the midseason, \u201cBrothers\u201d seems to forget about family intrigue and political ambitions entirely to focus on a harebrained scheme of the week. This straight-sitcom setup, with little serialization to speak of, seems to be where the show\u2019s natural instincts lie. But to justify making room in two packed schedules \u2014 we\u2019re repeatedly told McConaughey also has a lucrative tequila brand and <\/em>multiple courses he designed at UT Austin \u2014 \u201cBrothers\u201d has to limply gesture at something more. The season\u2019s final moments tease a potential follow-up, complete with a meta crack about \u201cbandwidth for a franchise.\u201d But to produce a sequel, a project ought to know what it is in the first place. \u201cBrothers\u201d never feels like it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe first two episodes of \u201cBrothers\u201d will premiere on Apple TV on Sep. 23, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Wednesdays.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou have all the hallmarks of a world-class politician,\u201d campaign manager Gwen (Lisa Gilroy) tells her client Matthew McConaughey (Matthew McConaughey). \u201cHowever, your Achilles\u2019 heel is that you\u2019ve been a celebrity for so long that your brain has turned into a big old sloppy pile of goo.\u201d The literal premise of the Apple TV comedy 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