I have never disliked Dax Shepherd. His work on Punk'd was funny for what it was, he was great in "Idiocracy" and, from my limited exposure to him on that set, he is a damned nice guy. He has made some bad movies, that isn't in question, but when the checks start being written who among us is really gonna say no? So, knowing that Dax can be quite funny, and reading the synopsis of this film I had decent hopes. This is a mockumentary about Dax trying to launch himself as a martial arts movie star, even though he has no training. We follow him and his producer friend around as they try to get studio interest, attach stars, and get the thing made.

The problem is that it isn't that funny. It's funny, but just not very. The problem with making a movie like this is that you have to make it look real while still maintaining comic timing. These two things don't work together easily. This movie is full of overlong scenes, timing that is just slow enough to flatten jokes, and silences that go on too long. These things are a part of this type of film and can work if they are turned into comic beats of their own (look at the work of Chris Guest for how to do this). Sadly they aren't here.

What we are left with, instead, is a somewhat funny movie that could have been a VERY funny movie. Dax does have ability, he just needs to take the time to develop it. I wasn't terribly disappointed, because there were some really great moments, fantastic cameos, and truly funny performances, but they aren't enough to get past the flat timing and lifeless direction.

A "documentary" about Dax Shepard retiring from comedy so he can pursue his dream of becoming a Martial Arts action star. Seriously. OK, maybe not so seriously. The beginning has Dax and his producing partner Nate Tucker going from agent to lawyer to producers to actors to directors to sell his karate idea "Brother's Justice", well, at this stage it's really just a title. When it's funny, it's very funny.

The problem is, when it's not funny, it's not anything. For an hour and a half run time, it's awfully long for a one-joke movie. Because really, that's all this is, one joke about Shepard trying to sell Hollywood on the idea of him becoming an action star in the ilk of Steven Segal. The idea that this documentary is serious is supposed to be funny, but I can't take this seriously. I've seen enough of Shepard in both comedy and drama roles that I know he's not actually this stupid.

It's cool that so many Hollywood hot-shots were willing to make themselves look like arrogant jerks for the sake of Dax Shepard and this (documentary? movie? —I don't know what to call it). At least their parts mostly work because Jon Favreau, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper and Tom Arnold can all do comedy and drama.

Ironically, unlike Dax's "successful" comedies like "Employee of the Month" (2006) and "When in Rome" (2010),"Brother's Justice" actually has all the elements of a good story: a sympathetic character (who doesn't want to see a good guy succeed in Hollywood?),conflict (Dax thinks it's a good idea, Hollywood does not),drama, comedy, and then the idea that friendship rises above everything. But none of that really works here.

Unintentionally, "Brother's Justice" just proves that Dax Shepard is best suited for comedy, or maybe that's its entire purpose. I never was sure if I was supposed to take this seriously or as one long joke. I'm sorry Dax, but I will always highly value your dramatic work in "Parenthood" and "The Freebie" (2010).

The plot: A comedian decides to quit making comedies and, instead, become an international martial arts superstar, despite being thoroughly incompetent.

There are some funny moments in this movie, but most of them involve the co-stars, rather than the leads. I can see what they were intending, but I'm not really sure that it worked. Much of the movie is meant to be stupid or intentionally bad, which I guess works, but it fails to be funny. The execution just isn't all that great. I think the biggest problem is that they just couldn't find a balance between the self-conscious, ironic, intentionally bad scenes and the funny scenes.

It's not horrible, but it's a bit uneven, and there are parts that are a bit slow and boring. It's also got lots of warmed-over Internet memes, like Chuck Norris references, ironic homophobia, ironic homoeroticism, and an ironic appreciation of bad B movies. If you still laugh at Chuck Norris jokes, five years after most of the Internet got tired of them, then this is the movie for you. If you can't imagine living your life without copious amounts of irony, this is the movie for you. If you're a bit tired of all this stuff, then I'd advise you just watch a Christopher Guest mockumentary.