Half Brothers

Half Brothers is a 2020 American comedy road movie directed by Luke Greenfield from a screenplay by Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman. It stars Luis Gerardo Méndez, Connor Del Rio, José Zúñiga, Vincent Spano, Pia Watson and Juan Pablo Espinosa.

The film was released on December 4, 2020, by Focus Features.

Plot
In 1994 Mexico, Renato Murguia's father, Flavio has to immigrate to the US in search of economic opportunity as their country underwent an economic crisis. Although Flavio promises to return soon, he does not. 25 years later, Renato is a successful aviation company executive based in San Miguel, is engaged to Pamela who already has a son Emilio and is planning to marry. Renato is contacted by a woman named Katherine, who tells that she is his second wife and reveals that Flavio is very ill and wishes for Renato to see him in Chicago. The resentful Renato reluctantly flies to Chicago.

Visiting his ailing father in the hospital, he finds out that Asher, whom Renato first encountered at a coffee shop, is revealed to be his brother, who he didn't know existed. Flavio asks the brothers for a favor; to look for Eloise after delivering an envelope to a man named Evaristo. However, Renato, still resentful, refuses and storms out of the hospital on his pleading father, who dies the next day. After attending the funeral with Asher, he relents.

On the road, Renato falls asleep and wakes up at a goat farm, finding Asher running toward the car with a small goat which Asher names Renatito, as armed men with rifles chase Asher. The two manages to escape, but Renato berates Asher for stopping just for a goat farm, which strayed off from their destination. After the long detour, they reach an old factory in St. Louis, where they are producing radio-controlled airplanes that Renato and Flavio used to play with. Directed by one of the factory's employees, they meet Evaristo, a friend of Flavio's at a Mexican bar across the street, who also immigrated to the United States.

Providing them with a key, Evaristo explains to Renato about how Flavio did everything he could to make enough money and return home. He worked in the factory until he came up with the idea to make toy planes, which revitalized the company with the help of Katherine. They had a good professional relationship that turned into a one-night stand, leading Flavio feeling guilty for betraying his old wife; he snuck out and uses his own money earned to head back to Mexico. Evaristo then gives Renato a box with another envelope written as Mr. B, which contains a claim ticket for a pawnshop. Before they can learn anything else, the two were forced to run away, when Asher pick a fight with the men who Asher had made a bad pool bet with.

The two stop at a motel where they were able to figure out the next location within the claim ticket from Mr. B's envelope to go to a pawn shop in Oklahoma City. They reach the shop the following morning and meet Mr. B, who presents them with Flavio’s wedding ring. Mr. B explains that Renato was mugged while on his way for the border. With no money, he went to the pawnshop, where Mr. B offers to buy Flavio's wedding ring and keep it there until he had the money to buy it back. After this, he attempted to cross the border but was arrested by border guards and is thrown in jail, before the guards dumped him on the side of the road upon developing an illness. Before telling anything else, Mr. B gives them an envelope for Eloise; it contains a picture of St. Mary's Convent in El Paso, Texas.

Renato, furious and impatient, grabs his bag and tries to head to the airport, but turns back upon discovering that he doesn’t have his passport on him. However, their car runs out of gas. While looking for help, they found an unlocked cabin, full of pure alcohol, which Renato plans to process it into gasoline to refuel Asher's car. When Renato discovers that Asher is the one who stole the passport, he locks him up in the bathroom and abandons him. However, Renato is arrested by a border patrol officer upon deciding to turn back and save Asher. Renato is thrown into detention with other undocumented immigrants until he is bailed out the next morning by Asher, who reveals that the cabin they broke in belonged to the group of rednecks they previously encountered at a gas station and are planning to eat Renatito. Renato and Asher return to the cabin and fill the place with ethanol vapor to knock out the rednecks and save the goat Renatito.

As they approach the US-Mexico border, Renato decides to go to St. Mary's Convent in El Paso for the final clue. The brothers meet a nun who takes them to a cabinet that requires a code. Renato and Asher figured out that "Eliose" written on the envelope, is actually a combination needed to unlock the cabinet. They find a DVD from Flavio explaining himself to his sons, who reveals that after being left for dead by the prison guards, he was found and took care of by the church nuns from the convent nearby before he was able to leave. However, Flavio finds out that Katherine had given birth to Asher. Not wanting to leave another son behind, he returns to Chicago and called his old wife to let her know that he wasn’t going to come home, and that was when Renato stopped caring for him. Flavio also explains that although he did love Asher, he tried to recapture too much of Renato in him and distanced himself when he saw that Asher was different. He explains that he loved both of them and hopes that they can not only forgive him but grow as brothers.

The nun then shows the brothers that Eloise really is an actual plane built by Flavio to pass down to his sons. Now having a way of returning back to Mexico, Renato invites both Asher and Renatito to the wedding, who they fly away together above the Sumidero Canyon, who he and his father had once dreamed.

Renato and Pamela get married, and Renato starts to make a bond with Emilio by having him fly a toy plane, which crashes into a nearby house, prompting everyone who witnesses the accident to run away.

Cast

 * Luis Gerardo Méndez as Renato
 * Ian Inigo as the Young Renato
 * Connor Del Rio as Asher
 * José Zúñiga as Evaristo
 * Vincent Spano as Mr. B
 * Pia Watson as Pamela
 * Juan Pablo Espinosa as Flavio
 * Jwaundace Candece as Doris

Production
In May 2019, it was announced Luis Gerardo Méndez had joined the cast of the film, with Luke Greenfield directing from a screenplay by Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman with Focus Features producing and distributing. In June 2019, Connor Del Rio joined the cast of the film. In August 2019, Pia Watson, Juan Pablo Espinosa and Vincent Spano joined the cast of the film.

Principal photography began in New Mexico in July 2019, and lasted 31 days.

Box office
The film grossed $720,000 from 1,369 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office. It remained in second in its sophomore weekend, falling 30% to $490,000. On its third weekend it earned $200,000 more.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 36% and an average rating of 5.2/10, based on 45 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "Half road trip comedy, half family drama, Half Brothers adds up to a less-than-halfway-entertaining look at immigration through the experiences of two siblings." According to Metacritic, which sampled seven critics and calculated a weighted average score of 30 out of 100, the film received "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 77% of audience members gave the film a positive score, with 47% saying they would definitely recommend it.