"A film that shows that when you're discussing the big issues of the day--love, war, work, whatever--you often need look no further than home to find your compass."

The Brothers McMullen - The Big Picture
Three Irish Catholic brothers--Jack, Patrick, and Barry McMullen (Jack Mulcahy, Mike McGlone and director Edward Burns)--are drawn together after the death of their father. As brothers and as close friends, they wrestle with the ironies and temptations they find in contemporary life, especially as they relate to the teachings of the church-and to women. As good Catholics, for example, they know that they must choose one person to be with for the rest of their lives. The problem is, how can they know which person is THE ONE?

Plot Thickeners
On the day of her good-for-nothing husband's funeral, Mrs. McMullen's tears have barely dried before she's headed for Ireland to be with the man she's really loved for all these years, leaving her sons with this warning: don't make the same mistake. The brothers find themselves lost in a haze of romantic confusion, grappling with their volatile Irish Catholic legacy. The married Jack adores his wife but is tempted to have an affair. The perpetually single Barry runs away from any woman who even suggest the commitment of a second date. And Patrick is so hopelessly romantic and incurably Catholic that he ends up taking advice about relationships from brother Barry! "Hey, I don't need any new ideas," he says. "I'm confused enough already."

But thrown together for a few months in the Long Island house of their youth, the witty, wise-mouthed brothers spur each other to come to grips with their past, their women, and the choices now shaking up their lives. As each gropes blindly toward true love, they learn exactly what their mother meant, and are reminded that whatever the pain, sometimes nothing runs as deep as family.

I'm moving back to Ireland...
Quicktime (955k) or AVI (975k)

The Vision behind the Script
Director Ed Burns wrote the script for "The Brothers McMullen" in the spring of 1993 while working as a production assistant for "Entertainment Tonight," bringing his own breezy, upbeat New York Irish Catholic perspective to the riddle of piecing together basic ideas and values--love, sex, marriage, religion and family--in the '90s.

"I was raised in an Irish Catholic household and attended Catholic grammar and high schools," said Burns. "I knew it affected the way I look at the world and wanted to show how your background has a hold on you for the rest of your life--sometimes to disastrous consequences. I didn't want to get preachy, instead I wanted to show the humor (at least from the outside) that confusion can bring. It's difficult to make choices based on all the contradictory lessons you've learned. In the film, I wanted to show how the brothers deal with those decisions and how they talk about it with each other. Brothers have conversations with one another that they wouldn't have even with their best friends."

Commitment is a dirty word.
Quicktime (955k) or AVI (975k)

Notes and Quotes
Filmed over an eight-month period on weekends with a budget so low that director Burns was forced to cast himself as a character ("I thought if I was in the movie it was one less mouth to feed, and I knew I'd show up every day."), the film is a true family affair and labor of love. Burns' father, Edward J. Burns, served as executive producer; as a former sergeant in the New York Police Department, he helped secure financing for the film through family and friends. Since the film was shot at the Burns' family home, Burns' mother served as the caterer. "It's hard not to stay in character when you're eating the world's best corned beef and cabbage on the set," said Burns. "My mom and dad would just live around us. So if we were shooting upstairs, they stayed downstairs, or vice versa."

For Trivia Experts Only
"The Brothers McMullen," which received the top award, the Grand Jury Prize, at the prestigious 1995 Sundance Film Festival, was filmed on a budget of about $20,000.