him. Sam also lies to Joe's widow about her husband's death. His paranoia also causes him to believe Grace and Tommy fell in love while he was gone, causing him to remain aloof. During Maggie's birthday, Isabelle is rude to her sister and plays with a balloon loudly, despite Sam and Grace telling her to stop, until Sam, already unstable and paranoid, snaps and pops the balloon out of fury. Already scared and resentful of Sam's erratic behavior and violent mood swings, an angry and hurt Isabelle falsely claims that Tommy and Grace are having an affair and wishes that Sam had actually died. Returning home, Sam becomes enraged, destroying the kitchen with a crowbar and aims a pistol at Tommy, who tries to calm his brother's violent breakdown. The police arrive and enter a standoff with Sam, who fires the gun into the air before holding it to his own head, contemplating suicide. He reluctantly surrenders after several pleas from Tommy and Grace. He is arrested and admitted to a Department of Veterans' Affairs mental hospital. Grace visits, giving him an ultimatum that if he doesn't tell her what happened, he'll lose her forever. Sam finally opens up, confiding in her that he killed Joe; and they embrace. In narration, he wonders if he will ever live a normal life. Cast Tobey Maguire as Capt. Sam Cahill Jake Gyllenhaal as Tommy Cahill Natalie Portman as Grace Cahill Sam Shepard as Hank Cahill Mare Winningham as Elsie Cahill Bailee Madison as Isabelle Cahill Taylor Geare as Maggie Cahill Patrick Flueger as Pvt. Joe Willis Carey Mulligan as Cassie Willis Clifton Collins Jr. as Maj. Cavazos Jenny Wade as Tina Omid Abtahi as Yusuf Navid Negahban as Murad Enayat Delawary as Ahmed Ethan Suplee as Sweeney Arron Shiver as A. J. Ray Prewitt as Owen Reception Box office On its opening weekend, the film opened #3 with $9,527,848 behind New Moon and The Blind Side. Since its box office debut the film has grossed $43,318,349 worldwide. Critical response Brothers received mixed reviews from film critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 159 reviews, with an average score of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It plays more like a traditional melodrama than the Susanne Bier film that inspired it, but Jim Sheridan's Brothers benefits from rock-solid performances by its three leads."