Terry Gilliam is as unconventional a director as they come, and the production mayhem he’s presided over the past three decades has resulted in some outlandish, magical and wildly entertaining films, among them “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Brazil,” “12 Monkeys,” and “The Fisher King.” But Gilliam’s chaotic film-making style has, as one might expect, caused him and his crew to lose their way at times, most notably in 2000, when numerous on-set problems ultimately led producers to shut down production of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” Then there are his uneven but still very worthwhile efforts such as the adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Gonzo epic, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” and now this, “The Brothers Grimm.”
Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star as the celebrated 19th-Century German yarn-spinners, here reinvented by Gilliam and screenwriter Ehren Krueger (“The Ring”) as a couple of snake-oil salesmen who’ve gotten rich and famous by duping gullible villagers into believing they can exorcise evil. When they stumble upon the village of Marbaden, where little girls keep mysteriously disappearing in the surrounding forest, the boys Grimm discover that there’s more than a little truth to those tall tales.
Both Damon and Ledger are very capable actors, but abrupt tonal shifts and a script that makes the all-too-obvious choice at every turn noticeably challenge them. Damon has the rougher go of it as Will, the cynic, at times even slipping entirely out of his labored British accent (and what are Germans in French-occupied territory doing speaking English to begin with?) The supporting cast includes a ravishing but sorely underused Monica Bellucci, Jonathan Pryce and Peter Stormare delivering way-over-the-top turns as the Grimm’s main antagonists, and gorgeous British actress Lena Headey as the shared love interest. Shot on location in Prague and the surrounding Czech countryside, “The Brothers Grimm” is a fine-looking film. Production designer Guy Dyas, in his first collaboration with Gilliam, constructed an entire 25-building village that looks like something out of a fairy tale book, which, of course, is the point. (Rated PG-13 for violence, frightening sequences and brief suggestive material. Running time: 119 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 26, 2005. Read the original PDF.