Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson aren’t enough to salvage Apple TV’s new comedy series Brothers from being an uninspired and unfunny show. The main selling point of Brothers is, of course, the pairing of McConaughey and Harrelson. The two have had one of the longest and most visible bromances in Hollywood history. Between EDtv in 1999, Surfer, Dude in 2008, and True Detective season 1 in 2014, Harrelson and McConaughey have become a modern and more prolific version of Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
Brothers also has another real-world draw: Harrelson and McConaughey have teased that they may in fact be biological brothers. An old rumor asserts that McConaughey’s mother knew Harrelson’s father at the time the younger star was conceived, though McConaughey refuses to get a DNA test (via The Hollywood Reporter). While Brothers doesn’t claim to offer any definitive answers about that rumor, its fictionalized story is based on the premise that they could be half-brothers with a shared father.
On top of that juicy family drama, Brothers puts a few new dramatic elements into play. McConaughey decides to run for governor of Texas, Harrelson and his family invade the former’s ranch on their traveling tour bus, and many family sitcom shenanigans ensue. Unfortunately, Brothers forgot the comedy aspect of “situational comedy,” and Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey won’t be joining the halls of TV’s best bromances any time soon.
Brothers Is A Pale Imitation Of Better Buddy Comedies & Family Sitcoms
The worst part about Brothers is that it’s simply not that funny. For a comedy show with such a powerhouse duo as Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, I expected a lot. In the end, I was thoroughly disappointed. Brothers isn’t even as funny as True Detective, the pair’s most famous collaboration, and that show is primarily a gritty police procedural.
Brothers feels like an attempt at a classic sitcom in all the worst ways: tired tropes that have been done before and better, flat jokes that could have used a laugh track to clue the audience in on what’s supposed to be funny, and a very uncomfortable quasi-incestuous relationship. It seems like the writers of Brothers mashed Friends, Modern Family, and The White Lotus together into an unrecognizable gelatinous mass that’s less than the sum of its parts.
The weirdly incestuous relationship also deserves its own bit of criticism. In Brothers’ fictional versions of the families, McConaughey’s son, Wyatt (Nolan Almeida), and Harrelson’s daughter, Kai (Oona Yaffe), are essentially cousins. They grew up together as family friends, and there’s a chance, as the show’s premise advertises, that they’re actual cousins as well.
That doesn’t stop Brothers from giving them a young, budding romance or from very overtly declaring that Kai is adopted, so it’s okay for her to have a crush on the kid she’s treated as family her entire life. The whole subplot smacks of weirdness, and Brothers’ attempts to be meta about it and call the incest-coded relationship what it is do nothing to make it more palatable.
Even the connective tissue of Brothers, the “true rumor” of Harrelson investigating whether he’s related to McConaughey, can’t save it. That was a solid premise that had real-world intrigue, but I couldn’t help but feel Brothers would have been better executed as a reality show. At least then we could have gotten a definitive answer about their genealogy and a look at who these celebrities actually are. Instead, we’re left with what is essentially fan fiction about the two, and bad fan fiction at that.
Brothers also has very little original content to offer beyond its semi-true premise. So many of the show’s episodes are built around mishaps and miscommunications that have defined sitcoms for decades. There’s maybe a single episode in this season that didn’t make me think I had seen another show, like Arrested Development or Malcolm in the Middle, do the same story better. Brothers is built on stale comedic situations, and it’s not nearly inventive enough to make those situations entertaining.
One of the few redeeming qualities Brothers has at its disposal, the pairing of Harrelson and McConaughey, only works about half the time. At some points, that central duo is perfectly strange, lovable, and charismatic. Their real friendship drips through the fictional facade of their characters, and they have great chemistry. At other points, the pair are caricatures of themselves that are still, paradoxically, astroturfed to make the real men look good. The litany of plugs for McConaughey’s books and mentions of Harrelson’s anarchist politics got downright grating as Brothers went on.
Brothers is at its best when it leans into offbeat humor, but it never commits to the bit enough to cross the border from “occasionally amusing” to “genuinely funny.”
Unfortunately, the references to McConaughey and Harrelson’s respective filmographies may be the best part about Brothers. There are plenty of references to movies like Interstellar and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and, of course, True Detective, that should delight their fans. It’s also quite fun to see a reversal of their True Detective roles, with Harrelson taking the more zany oddball role while McConaughey plays the straight man. Those references are playful and fun, but they don’t lend much substance to Brothers beyond reminding the audience that the main characters are movie stars in the real world.
This should illustrate how much of a wasted opportunity pairing Harrelson with McConaughey was: my favorite character in Brothers was a surprise guest star. This mystery actor nails all of his scenes and stands head and shoulders above his castmates in comedic timing, delivery, and, most importantly, commitment to the bit. He wasn’t even billed as one of Brothers‘ stars, yet he easily outshines Harrelson and McConaughey.
The most frustrating thing about Brothers is that there are inklings of a better show here. McConaughey and Harrelson are great when they’re allowed to be the butt of the joke and revel in the peculiarities of this Odd Couple pairing, like wearing matching blue cowboy tuxedos in the trailer for Brothers. Brothers is at its best when it leans into offbeat humor, but it never commits to the bit enough to cross the border from “occasionally amusing” to “genuinely funny.” That’s perhaps its greatest crime.
Brothers’ Few Advantages Can’t Make Up For Its Weaknesses
One of the only saving graces of Brothers is the many moments it takes to be more earnest than comedic. There are some great dramatic elements at play in Brothers. The fictionalized version of McConaughey has to grapple with his father’s legacy. Harrelson’s character has a checkered past as an absent father to his two daughters, and he makes great strides in making amends and reconnecting with his children.
Unfortunately, Brothers doesn’t really dive into these character dynamics in earnest until it’s nearly over. The first episodes are a slog of jokes that don’t land and build up to the reveal of the truth behind the “true rumor.” Once it gets there, Brothers handles its emotions and dramatic tension well, but it takes too long to get there.
Aside from Harrelson and McConaughey, Brothers also has some competent supporting actors. Holland Taylor is great as the zany, aging Ma Mac, and the members of the respective families are good. Ella Grace Helton, who plays McConaughey’s daughter, also showed off some of the best comedic chops of the main cast. Lisa Gilroy was good, but like the rest of Brothers‘ humor, I wish she would have been let off the leash and allowed to showcase her usual weird comedic style.
Perhaps the highest praise I can give to Brothers is for its technical aspects. This show doesn’t indulge in the overly gray and dark color grading and lighting so many shows in the streaming era fall victim to. Texas looks vibrant and beautiful, shots are well blocked and choreographed, and there’s a very professional sheen to the entire series that never sacrifices warmth and familiarity. Brothers is one of the most visually pleasing sitcoms I’ve ever watched.
These few advantages aren’t enough to salvage Brothers, however. At the end of the day, this was supposed to be a situational comedy, and it failed to be funny more times than I can forgive. There may have been a better version of this show before David West Read departed as Brothers‘ showrunner, but that’s not the version we got. All in all, Brothers ended up closer to Surfer, Dude than True Detective in the ranking of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s collaborations.
The first two episodes of Brothers premiere on Apple TV on Wednesday, September 23, followed by weekly releases through November 4.
- Release Date
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September 22, 2026
- Network
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Apple TV
- Episodes
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8
- Brothers has a lot of heart and tackles some emotionally heavy topics with a lot of grace.
- Brothers features great direction, cinematography, and lighting, resulting in a beautiful show.
- Brothers isn’t very funny; its jokes are unoriginal and often fall flat, and it never commits to the bit.
- There’s a very uncomfortable incestuous relationship in Brothers that drags a significant portion of the show down.
- McConaughey and Harrelson’s chemistry isn’t enough to make up for Brothers’ lack of humor.
