LITTLE BROTHER (NETFLIX) (2026)

SYNOPSIS: Rudd (John Cena) has the perfect life – great job, loving family, and a thriving career as a real estate agent… until his little brother, Marcus (Eric Andre), crashes back into his world as a full-blown agent of chaos, stress-testing every part of Rudd’s carefully controlled existence. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Little Brother is yet another forgettable, dumb, unfunny comedy seemingly generated by the typical Netflix algorithm to fill its monthly content quota.

John Cena teams up with stand-up comedian Eric André in this poor variation of the far superior Step Brothers. Instead of stepbrothers, we have Cena playing the “big brother” to André’s “little brother”, a former foster child who grew up with 16 different families. Unaware that it’s his assistant, Mia (Sherry Cola), who has been replying to his emails, successful realtor Rudd Landy (Cena) is reunited with Marcus (André), his “little brother” from a Big Brothers program during his school days.

Marcus is, of course, the familiar movie archetype: a troublemaker, womanizer, comedian, and eccentric free spirit who dispenses marriage advice. In short, he’s presented as a near-perfect guy for no convincing reason. Rudd, meanwhile, is riddled with insecurities despite being married to the beautiful Deirdre (Michelle Monaghan), raising two sons, and enjoying a successful career. His biggest source of resentment is his millionaire older brother, Josh (Christopher Meloni).

Little Brother strings together a series of gross-out gags, sexual escapades, and brainless physical stunts. It’s little more than an excuse to showcase André’s manic comedic energy, but unfortunately, very few of his antics are genuinely funny. Oddly enough, the film also tries to portray Marcus as a lovable, quirky soul whose unconventional outlook transforms the uptight Rudd. The latter spends much of the film preparing to appear on a reality TV show, hoping to finally outshine his far more successful brother.

Cena has enjoyed his fair share of comedic hits and misses, and Little Brother ranks among his weakest efforts even below Ricky Stanicky. Michelle Monaghan should seriously consider firing her agent, as she’s once again relegated to the thankless role of the supportive wife with little to do. At least Christopher Meloni gets to have some fun playing the egotistical millionaire brother with an inexplicable obsession with fishballs.

The comedy is so predictable and lazy that you’ll know exactly how everything will play out long before the end credits roll. If Netflix believes audiences will eagerly lap up yet another formulaic comedy churned out by its algorithm, it may be time to think again. The formula is no longer working and this film is proof that it’s starting to stink.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee