Abe & Bruno (2006)

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Whenever a film bills itself as a "heartwarming comedy," it is rarely a good sign. Abe (Brad J. Sergi) lives with a giant five hundred pound gorilla named Bruno (guy in monkey suit). Abe resides on the outskirts of a small California town, scaring away the locals and defining the term "curmudgeon" since no one knows about Bruno and Abe aims to keep it that way. Abe thinks of Bruno as his son, and has taught him some amazing things. Bruno can use the toilet! Bruno can work the microwave! Bruno can make his own bed! Bruno can comprehend and react to every single word and gesture Abe uses!Bruno has also figured out the television remote control and has fallen in monkey love with animal show host Sarah (Blythe Metz...Bruno has good taste in homo sapien females). Ironic in a "heartwarming" tale that Abe has a "heart attack," even telling Bruno to call 911! Bruno panics and goes into town to find Abe's girlfriend Edie (Candice Rose), who also knows nothing of Bruno. The town (all twelve extras, er, citizens) is thrown into an uproar, but Bruno manages to lead Sheriff Kilgore (Kevin Scott Allen) to a still breathing Abe before escaping into the nearby woods.Some media, and Sarah, descend on the town as Kilgore makes plans to shoot to kill Bruno. Sergi, as Abe, does his best acting in the hospital scenes (unconscious) as Sarah tries to persuade the stereotypical stupid gun toting rednecks that casting aspersions about gorillas is narrow minded and dangerous.Done on the cheap, "Abe & Bruno" misleads starting with the DVD cover. The three children on the cover are in very small supporting roles. While billing itself as a comedy, there are zero laughs. Its heartwarming tone left me cold, and everything about it felt dumbed down and simplistic, from the terrible pacing and plot to little things like Abe's annoying one sided conversations with Bruno or Sarah's questionable internet search engine.Everything I know about gorillas I learned from "Gorillas in the Mist" and the "King Kong" films, meaning very little, but I found myself rolling my eyes every time Sarah came up with a new factoid about primates. The bloodthirsty gun toting sheriff and moronic deputies are caricatures of the lowest sort, not characters, yet I kept getting lectured about misinformation and the problems of jumping to the wrong conclusions about Bruno. A minor film you have never heard of, "Abe & Bruno" features some pretty scenery (California and Metz), but nothing else. Keep your stinking hands off this damned dirty movie.

I read the other 3 reviews - yes the acting is bad, but that is only if you are holding it up to much better work. The main character (who seems to have 10th billing) is Abe, a supposedly OLD GRUMPY Guy who neither looks "old" nor realistically pulls off "grumpy", but remember that I am an adult seeing this through the adult eyes a an avid movie buff.The film has its moments - though admittedly they are few. If I was a young child this film would probably be quite good. In fact my expectation is to watch this with my 3 year old grandson who I think will find it quite enjoyable once someone watches it with him and explains things as the film progresses. I have the feeling it will be a movie he will want to watch often.Unfortunately, from the adult viewpoint the acting is restrained like in the opening scenes where Abe is running away from what we quickly find to be Bruno the ape but he isn't really running - he is just sort of giving the impression that he could be running. Again, an adult look vs. a child's eye view probably makes the world of difference.There is also a lot of what seems like attempts at comedy for the sake of making the film palatable for any adult who might have to supervise the youngster watching the film, like when Abe corrects his leaving the toilet seat up to appease Bruno's sensibilities on this subject.This is basically examples of what to expect from "all" of the acting in this film, not just the actor portraying Abe. As an adult you'll find that the actors are acting, waiting for each other's lines and the occasional opportunity to step on someone else's line.I was actually a little amazed that the three kids in the film got top billing as the Abe character and a few of the other adult actors seem to be the main characters, but that is just another example of who this film is geared towards.As a film that I would categorize as an "After School Special" candidate for mid-western (I would have to drop it a few points for either coast) pre-teen family viewing I rate this at the higher end of the spectrum. If I was rating it for my own viewing pleasure I would unfortunately have to give it a flat out zero.

I read the two comments available before watching this movie as it came on the TV, and was waiting on a vile curse ridden movie with no merit what so ever so when I watched it all the way through I had so laugh at how sensitive some people are the only curse in this movie is in the dictionary explained below, I wont type it here for fear of damaging someones sensibilities.interj. Used to express anger, irritation, contempt, or disappointment.My two year old nephew watched this film with me and he just loved Bruno the big friendly Gorill. And yes the acting is pretty bad but this is a kids movie and who really cares when its a simple story teaching kids that things are not always bad just because someone else say it is... it is on that note i finish

I mistakenly brought this home as a "family time" movie to watch with our three kids (ages between 6 and 10). It was simply terrible. It had weak character development, coupled with extremely poor acting. It was devoid of humor (not that this movie is a comedy, but it might have provided the audience with something to look forward to). The language was coarse, and although it was not the standard-issue "swear words", it was entirely inappropriate for kids who are easily influenced by such bad behaviors. The theme was hard to discern, besides the brutally simplistic stereotyping of "gorillas are savage people-killers", and the counterpoint of "gorillas are gentle giants with big hearts". The only thing hat reduced my pain in my poor movie choice was the fact that I rented it out of a kiosk machine for only a buck. Do yourself a big favor and skip this one.