00:00Brian Cox makes an unlikely film directorial debut at the age of 79 in the comedy drama
00:05Glenn Rothen. After a Chicago club burns down, Alan Cumming is convinced to accompany his
00:10daughter Alexandra Shipp on her trip to Scotland and his native Glenn Rothen to visit his brother
00:15Brian Cox, who he hasn't seen in 40 years. Cox has been looking after the family distillery,
00:21but with his health issues, its fate will depend on if the brothers can heal old wounds.
00:25This is the second alcohol-based family dramedy has come out in a matter of weeks after Mother's
00:30Pride, and it is a better film than that, but not as much as you would think. Usually a film
00:36held by
00:36an actor is a bit of a passion project, but Cox has made no secret about the fact that the
00:40decision
00:40to direct was one sprung upon him by the film's producer, and that does show in how flat the
00:45final product is. Luckily, when you have actors like Cox, Cumming, and Shirley Henderson, the film
00:51is never less than watchable, but the American casting of Shipp and her daughter feel badly
00:56out of place in this very Scottish film, and make it feel even more like a Hallmark movie.
01:01Despite Cumming's inherent likability, he struggles to save a poorly written main character who comes
01:06across as less conflicted and more like a selfish coward who spends much of the film sulking around
01:12and avoiding his brother and family as he tries to sell the distillery behind their back.
01:16It becomes clear that he had a very tough relationship with his overbearing father,
01:21and that's why he left, but the movie makes the fatal mistake of only using brief flashbacks and
01:26telling too much through dialogue, especially about how close he was to his mother, who is barely seen
01:31at all. As a result, it becomes very hard to connect with him, especially since Cox is perfectly welcoming
01:37and accommodating, and the only one who was actually holding onto grudges from four decades ago is Cumming.
01:42Given how forthright and critical Cox can be off-screen, you might be surprised to hear that Glenn Rothen
01:47is an exceptionally mild and gentle film, where if it weren't for the occasional F-word,
01:52it would barely trouble a PG rating, but it desperately needed some bitternose to offset the saccharine.
01:59It's a very predictable film from start to finish, as you can see every plot point coming from miles away.
02:04Hmm, I wonder why Cumming keeps wincing every time someone brings up the club's insurance,
02:08and as a result, the film is dramatically anemic, with little real conflict, and you know who will
02:14end up with the distillery long before they figure it out. An additional editing credit and some very
02:20conspicuous ADR suggest they were well aware of these problems, but it's still mostly a film of
02:25people looking wistfully at photogenic places as they drink a lot of the family whiskey.
02:29Shirley Henderson as Cumming's ex, who stayed behind and became a master distiller, gives the film a few
02:34moments of life, but I don't think anyone realized that the film's message that home and your
02:38family is where the heart is, seems to punish Cumming for escaping an abusive upbringing,
02:42like a perversely distorted It's a Wonderful Life, where everyone blames him for not leaving themselves.
02:47It's a pleasant and undemanding watch, if a little bit dull, and it's basically the
02:51cinematic equivalent of a tin of shortbread.
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