Josh Brolin claims video of him seemingly man-handling Sean Penn was simply tricky editing.

Brolin, who was out with wife Diane Lane (haven't seen them together in a while), was seen hugging and kissing Sean's wife, Robin, last month -- very touchy feely. There was also video of Josh appearing to manhandle Sean outside the same restaurant where he was touching on Robin.

Brolin told us last night that he's "best of friends" with Sean. BTW, he's been seen out with Sean since the other video was shot.