Brotherly familiarity...(SPOI LERS)

There seemed to be moments of an almost discomforting familial closeness between Nicholson and Dern's characters. It seemed more than just brotherly estrangement and unresolved conflict to me. I'm not suggesting a sexual history between the brothers, but I think that Nicholson's character was closeted (though his older brother seemed aware and nonchalant regarding it).

There were some curious moments.

Their first hug on the boardwalk was undeniably tense, it piqued my curiosity. The odd scene in the hotel room when Dern's character asks Nicholson's character why he always moves away and then they hug; the scene in the lobby with the leatherclad afro'd guy who says he knew a "sweet"(hood slang for gay) guy like Nicholson's character who had a little Derringer?; the curiousity Nicholson's character shows about his brother's 3-way relationship with the women though lack of interest in hooking up with either when presented with the opportunity; the scene when Nicholson's character wanders into the bedroom, sits on the bed, then handles the dildo (a particularly interesting and surreal scene with his tape player running in the background and the hazy, slowness of the camera just before the two guys come in).

The subtext made Marvin Gardens, an otherwise straightforward bad-seed/old-habits-die-hard story MORE interesting than its noir-ish Chinatown DVD packaging and blurb copy would suggest. I liked it alot because of it.