Eric André is the cool brother; John Cena not so much.

Eric André is the best thing about the new Netflix comedy “Little Brother.” He has a certain kind of energy and talent that makes himself an ideal comic relief character. It’s something I’ve enjoyed most about “Disenchantment,” which had him voicing the wise-cracking demon Luci. But the movie itself is too cynical and desperate to be as funny as he is. He plays an escaped mental patient named Marcus, who once participated in a high school charity event-the Big Brother-Little Brother program. His “Big Brother” is Rudd Lundy (John Cena), a successful realtor and family man, whom he has been unknowingly emailing to him through his agent Mia (Sherry Cola).

Just as Rudd is scoring a major role on a hit reality show, he finds out his brother is in the hospital. Thinking it’s his older more arrogant bro Josh (Christopher Meloni), he and his wife Deirdre (Michelle Monaghan) come to the hospital and find out that it’s not Josh, but Marcus. That’s when his wife finds out about the program, and that’s when she invites him into their home.

Consider “Little Brother” to be another one of those raunchy comedies trying to be like “What About Bob,” but with Rudd’s insecurities trying to taint his comic relationship with Marcus. His goofiness manages to earn the attention of the reality show’s creators (Ego Nwodim and Caleb Hearon), who were already planning to exploit Rudd being in Josh’s shadow in the first place. They want Marcus to collaborate with Rudd, much to the “older brother’s” chagrin.

Throughout this movie, we can tell Mia has a crush on Marcus, based on how she’s been intercepting his emails to Rudd. And Deirdre is another one of those movie wives to see the good in the new stranger and dislikes how her husband reacts towards him. At the very least, the “stranger” gets her to go hard on her husband…….sexually, of course,

“Little Brother” was directed by Matt Spicer, who also made “Ingrid Goes West.” Strangely enough, that was also about a mental patient pushing herself into the lives of people she idolizes, except through Instagram. That movie took a lot of chances and refused to take the easy way out. This one has us rooting for the “little brother” to thrive over the “older brother.” I’ve mentioned that Andre has the talent, and he should play a character like this one. But he ends up being overshadowed by Cena trying to be like Richard Dreyfus in “What About Bob,” and acting like a jerk almost throughout the movie.

So far, this decade, the meanest comedy Cena has appeared in was “Jackpot.” But I’m, at least, glad “Little Brother” isn’t as cold-hearted as that film, especially when we get flashbacks of young Rudd (Maximo Salas) meeting young Marcus (Christopher Woodley) in the Big Brother-Little Brother program. But sadder still, the movie thinks it’s funny when Marcus gets hit by a scooter and the rider flipping him off, and it’s embarrassing the way he sees that Rudd is about to cry. It’s too perfunctory to be funny and too cynical for a filmmaker like Spicer to handle its kind of raunchy humor. And I only laughed a little towards the end regarding an electrolarynx.

“Little Brother” has the right brother to introduce, and he’s played by Andre, but it has the wrong brother to be embarrassed by him, and he’s played by Cena.

Now Streaming on Netflix