The Brothers McMullen (1996)

Just because a guy busts his hump crafting a well-intentioned, ''human'' comedy-drama for little money doesn't necessarily mean the result will be terrific. Yes, The Brothers McMullen, the story of three love-confounded brothers won top honors at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. But all the no-budget McMullen really does is demonstrate that the romantic travails of feisty Irish Catholics from Long Island aren't as funny as the romantic travails of Manhattan-dwelling Jewish neurotics. Writer-director-star Burns' relationship observations fall into the heard-it-before category; what distinguishes this from big-budget Hollywood product is that it dishes up heartfelt cliches rather than crassly mass-marketed ones. And it doesn't look nearly as good. C+