My Blind Brother was filmed in Northeast Ohio, with one of the water scenes was shot on Sheffield Lake, Ohio.[4] The final "cut" of the film was made on Thursday at Lorain's Lakeview Park.[4] The film took a month to produce.[4]
Release
The film premiered at the South by Southwest festival on March 12, 2016.[5][2] On March 15, 2016, it was reported that Starz had acquired distribution rights to the film.[6] The film was scheduled to be released on September 23, 2016, in a limited release and through video on demand.[3]
Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 36 reviews, with an average ranking of 6.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "My Blind Brother takes a refreshingly character-driven approach to its familiar sibling rivalry while adding a somewhat unexpected twist."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of a 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8]
Andrew Barker of Variety gave the film a positive review, writing that the film "takes an ostensibly dark premise — a man of few qualities attempts to steal his overachieving blind brother’s girlfriend — and turns it into a featherweight frolic as winningly unambitious as its central couple played by Nick Kroll and Jenny Slate."[9]
Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times called the film "A thoroughly harmless comedy that spaces its one-liners a bit widely".[10] In a review for The Seattle Times, Tom Keogh praised the film's "love-hate energy", especially when it comes to "Robbie's condescension [and] Bill's passive-aggressiveness".[11]
Dmitry Samarov of Chicago Reader wrote "Zoe Kazan provides the only compelling moments... yet playing the normal one among such a group of narcissists is a thankless task".[12] Scott Marks of San Diego Reader said that "First-time director Sophie Goodhart coaxes a grown-up performance out of Kroll, and Scott's smarmy contentiousness has never been put to better use".[13]
According to Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club, "[the film] is slight and a little easy, but it's powered by sincere affection".[14] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter opinion was that the film is "Enjoyable, if not a laugh riot".[15]
Kevin P. Sullivan of Entertainment Weekly had a different take on the film. His response was "Though My Blind Brother clearly isn't aiming for the feel-good realm, the emotions never ring true enough to make any of the purposely flawed leads relatable, never mind likable".[16]
