# 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

Renato works in an aviation company as a business executive based in San Miguel. He receives a call from Katherine, who informs Renato that his father, Flavio is very ill and wishes for Renato to see him. Despite feeling resentful of his father for not returning 25 years after he immigrated to the US, Renato reluctantly flies to Chicago, where he first encounters Asher before finding out he is their half-brother upon visiting Flavio. Before dying, Flavio asks the brothers to deliver an envelope to a man named Evaristo, which will reveal the clue about "Eloise". However, Renato berates Flavio and storms out of the hospital, but after visiting his wake, he begrudgingly agrees.
Asher takes a detour and steals a small goat whom he calls "Renatito" from a local ranch from a group of armed men, which angers Renato. They later reach an old factory in St. Louis that produces radio-controlled airplanes that Renato and Flavio used to play with. Directed by one of the factory's employees to a Mexican bar across the street, they meet Evaristo, a friend of Flavio's who also immigrated to the United States with him.
Providing them with a key, Evaristo explains to Renato that Flavio worked in the local factory as a cheap laborer, but he manages to revitalize it into making RC airplanes with the help of his business partner, Katherine. The two later had a good professional relationship that turned into a one-night stand, which leaves Flavio guilty. Evaristo then gives Renato a box with another envelope written to a "Mr. B," which contains a claim ticket for a pawnshop; the two deduced that the pawnshop is located in Oklahoma City.
The two meets up with Mr. B, who presents them with Flavio’s wedding ring. Mr. B explains that Renato was mugged on his way for the border, forcing him to pawn his ring for the money needed to return to the border. However, he was arrested by border guards and thrown in jail. Mr. B gives them an envelope for Eloise; it contains a picture of St. Mary's Convent in El Paso, Texas, but this infuriates Renato and attempts to abandon Flavio's task and return back home by himself, but finds his passport is missing
Driving towards El Paso, their car runs out of fuel; the brothers find an unlocked cabin stocked with ethanol, which Renato plans to process into gasoline. When Renato discovers that Asher is the one who stole the passports to prevent him from leaving, he locks him up in the bathroom and abandons him, but is arrested by border guards when he attempted to return.
After spending a night in the cell with undocumented immigrants, he is bailed out by Asher, who reveals that the cabin they broke in belonged to a group of rednecks they had previously encountered at a gas station and had taken his goat Renatito captive. Renato and Asher return to the cabin and fill it with ethanol vapour to knock out the rednecks and save Renatito.
As they approach the US-Mexico border, Renato decides to go to St. Mary's Convent in El Paso for the final clue given by Mr. B. The brothers meet a nun who takes them to a cabinet that requires a code, which turns out to be the name "Eloise" from the envelope. In the cabinet, they find a DVD from Flavio, which reveals that he was found care by the nuns from the nearby convent after he was left for dead. However, before he could cross the border, he was informed by Katherine that she had given birth to Asher. Not wanting to leave another son behind, he returned 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 while he did love Asher, he initially saw him as a substitute for Renato and grew distant from him when he realized 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" is really a full-size plane Flavio built for his sons. Now with a way to return to Mexico, Renato invites both Asher and Renatito to his upcoming wedding, and they fly away together above the Sumidero Canyon, where Renato and Flavio had once dreamed of flying there. As Renato and Pamela get married, his son, Emilio, flies his toy plane and 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.

## Reception
### 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.