'Little Brother' Review: Cena, André Pair Up on Netflix
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- "Little Brother" streams on Netflix starting Friday, June 26, directed by Matt Spicer ("Ingrid Goes West") from a script by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel, casting John Cena as real estate agent Rudd Landy whose carefully managed image is undone when his long-lost Big Brother mentee Marcus Pinchel (Eric André) shows up unannounced 35 years later
- Christopher Meloni plays Josh, Rudd's older billionaire-DJ brother whose shadow looms over the whole film; the plot hinges on Rudd trying to redefine himself via Bravo reality show "NYC Hustlers," whose producers are played by Ego Nwodim and Caleb Hearon
- Michelle Monaghan plays Rudd's open-hearted wife Deirdre (who hosts fundraisers for disabled wildlife), and Sherry Cola plays his assistant in a romantic subplot with Marcus that the reviewer says 'hinges on a Hoobastank song' — and notes the joke depends on Gen Z hearing it fresh
- The reviewer argues the Cena-André pairing is the closest Cena has come to a right screen partner in his recent run of streaming comedies, which the article lists as 'Ricky Stanicky,' 'Argylle,' 'Jackpot!,' 'Heads of State,' and 'Freelance,' and flags an upcoming Cena-Kevin Hart Netflix team-up as already in development
- Spicer's continuity with 'Ingrid Goes West' — his interest in how identity is performed for cameras — gives the Bravo-show scenes an extra kick, with Rudd trying to sell himself as a 'superstar salesman' while Marcus 'accidentally pisses into his own mouth in the background'
- The review's central critique: the film is 'plotted to the hilt and edited within an inch of its life,' with Cena and André afforded 'such infrequent overlap' that the blooper reel feels like proof of a cut-too-short comedy, capping the review with 'a movie that left me feeling like I wasn't getting enough of John Cena on Netflix'
Why it matters: Cena has churned through six streaming comedies since 2023 — 'Ricky Stanicky,' 'Argylle,' 'Jackpot!,' 'Heads of State,' 'Freelance' — without a strong co-star, but this reviewer argues 'Little Brother' finally gives him the right screen partner in André, giving Netflix a pairing to lean on as Cena's Kevin Hart team-up moves into development.
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