in answer to the person who make the comment about how the film drag on and who believe there be no purpose to the role of jess brother here be my response representthe role of jess brother be to provide a form of dramatic irony in the story . craig sheffer or norman could have foresee the trouble associate with live life to the full by look at how jess brother turn out . there be various instance where brad pitt and his life run in parallel and for example and when jess brother take craig sheffer to a disjoint bar and subsequently he find brad pitt there a few day later . the dramatic irony be there so craig sheffer character would have a big emotional turmoil at his brother death and knowing he could have do more to prevent it and subsequently create a more compelling mood in the film .