Die Schwarzwald

The news about Heath Ledger made me realize I've been hoarding one of his movies for almost a month. The Brothers Grimm arrived via Netflix during the bizarre fairy tale stint of Winter Break.

It's really bad. Like really, really, bad. Heath Ledger and Matt Damon play the Grimm brothers, tricksters who capitalize on the superstitions of townspeople. Napoleon inexplicably commissions them to investigate the disappearances of little girls in a big scary forest (the disappearances are all based on fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.) Bad French and Italian accents abound, as well as Matt Damon's bad English accent (which is also never explained). And unfortunately, Matt Damon shouts such cringe-worthy lines at his onscreen sibling like "This is suicide! You'll get yourself killed!" Ouch.

There's really no redeeming factor for the film. It tries to be a slapstick and a drama and a parody all at once, and it's a little embarrassing to watch it all play out so poorly. Even if it's Terry Gilliam, it's still a crappy film.

It's actually driven me back to the Econ textbooks...