How It All Goes Down
Austin, a writer in his 30s, has come to stay at his mother's house outside of Los Angeles while she's in Alaska on vacation. He's left his wife and kids in Northern California in order to research and work on his latest script, and to meet with a big time Hollywood producer who has shown serious interest in the project.
Unfortunately for Austin (but fortunately for the audience), his estranged older brother Lee has shown up at the house, too. They haven't really seen each other in five years. While Austin is Ivy League educated and book smart, Lee left the civilized world to seek adventure in the desert and get by as a thief, a dog fighter, and who knows what else.
Tension takes hold early between the two brothers, as Austin does his best to connect with Lee even though one gets the sense that Austin is a little afraid of him. The two brothers discuss their father, who clearly hasn't been a part of the family for a very long time. Lee wants to bring their dad back into the fold, but Austin doesn't think that's ever going to happen.
Things start to get stranger when Austin lends Lee his car in order to get him out of the house while he meets with that big time producer, Saul Kimmer. Lee comes home while Austin and Saul are still meeting. Lee carries a TV that he's clearly stolen from a house, but he passes it off to Saul as Austin's TV that he went to pick up at the repair shop. Through a truly bizarre combination of bullying and charm, Lee convinces Saul to go golfing with him the next day. Lee has a story he'd love to pitch to Saul.
Lee convinces Austin to help him come up with an outline for his movie idea prior to the golf game. Begrudgingly, Austin does it. The next day, Lee returns home from the golf game. Lee used a bit of gambling (and maybe more bullying and charm) to get Saul to agree to turn his idea into a movie. The catch is; Saul is going to drop Austin's project in favor of Lee's. Saul shows up to try to get Austin to agree to write Lee's script for a large sum of money, but Austin wants nothing to do with it.
Let the madness begin! As Lee tries to turn himself into a writer, Austin decides he'll turn himself into a thief just like Lee. Drunk and really angry, Austin heads out into the neighborhood to prove he can do anything Lee can do. He returns at dawn with a collection of toasters he's stolen from various houses. He even plugs them in and starts making toast. The drinking and arguing continues among the brothers as Lee struggles to write his movie.
Eventually, Austin decides that he's had it with the real world and he begs Lee to take him to the desert with him. Lee says that if Austin will write the script for him (while giving Lee credit) he'll take his little brother to the desert. This, of course, leads the two to set out on a booze-fueled writing session. In the process, a typewriter gets smashed, toast gets dumped all over the floor, Lee bathes himself in beer, and the house transforms into a complete wreck.
Just when you think things can't get any weirder, their mom returns home, claiming Picasso (who is dead, mind you) is coming to the local museum, so she decided she just had to get out of Alaska and come home to meet him. Lee tells his mom he needs some of her antiques to take to the desert with him, but he also says he won't be taking Austin to the desert. This prompts Austin to attack his brother and strangle him with a telephone cord (yep, telephones used to have cords), while their mom calmly tries to get them to take their fight outside.
Austin looks like he's won the fight. In fact, it looks like he's killed Lee. But, as the lights start to fade, Lee gets up, coyotes howl, and the brothers stare each other down in the doorway.