Release Date: 8/26/2011
Our Idiot Brother, directed by Jesse Peretz (The Ex), is a light-hearted, late summer, R-rated comedy. Even with its stellar female supporting cast this independent film is carried by the comedic performance of its lead actor, Paul Rudd. Rudd shows off his talents as the pot smoking, naive, bearded organic farmer and you can’t help but love the guy. Other then that performance the story is nothing special and takes a little too long to develop, as you might get a little restless waiting for it to take form. Once it gets going about halfway through the 2nd act the story becomes a little more focused and it ends up being a quirky little film that is at times laugh out loud funny and overall delightfully entertaining.
Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz (Emily Mortimer), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), that person is their upbeat, outcast brother Ned (Paul Rudd), a former organic farmer whose outlook on life is very adolescent. Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother and so, after his girlfriend dumps him after he sells weed to a uniformed cop, his sisters once again come to his rescue. As Liz, Miranda and Natalie each take a turn at housing Ned, their brother’s dependable obligation to honesty creates more than a few messes in their comfortable routines. But as each of his siblings’ lives begins to unravel, Ned’s family comes to realize that maybe, in believing and trusting the people around him; Ned isn’t such an idiot after all.
Paul Rudd is famous for being a likeable character and with this performance it’s more of the same. If it wasn’t for him this film would probably fail miserably. His characters’ outlook on life is so fresh and gives you the viewer a warm feeling while watching. In one scene he hands a stranger a handful of money to hold for him on the subway while he deals with his spilled coffee. That is just one of the situations that Ned gets himself into throughout the duration of his story. With all the raunchy, immaturely written R-rated comedies of this year, it is a breath of fresh air to see something fresh and maturely written. The supporting cast is made up of a handful of young talented actresses the aforementioned sisters and then the lesbian love interest of the one sister is played by Rashida Jones. That’s a lot of female talent that surrounds Rudd, but it’s still him who serves as the stand out. There are also cameos by Adam Scott who I have grown to really enjoy over the past couple years and he has a few great scenes with Rudd. Also there is a small part from Steve Coogan (Tropic Thunder) and his ball sack. I’m not sure why movies are in love with male nudity these days but that needs to stop immediately. Coogan is pretty annoying as the asshole husband of Emily Mortimer’s character. T.J. Miller (She’s Out of My League) also had a couple scenes with Rudd and was cracking me up with some of the ridiculous things he would say.
The director Jesse Peretz doesn’t have many credits on his resume, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. He goes from The Ex which was pretty awful to this solid independent comedy. He shows potential to be a good filmmaker and if he casts Rudd again then that will only help his cause. He might want to hire some better writers next time because I feel the script took too long to develop, it wasn’t sure what kind of movie it wanted to be through the first act, by the end though it becomes kind of heartfelt and mixed with a few laughs it’s definitely something people will enjoy.
I do have a major problem with the ending. I’m not sure if the writers or filmmakers involved are even aware of the striking similarity of the final scene to a movie that was just released a few years ago. As I was walking out of the theater I was thinking to myself “I have seen something like that before” and then when it hit me I was like “man that’s pretty bad.” If I was involved there would have been a rewrite just for that reason. It takes away from the originality and ends the film on a bad note.
Overall, Our Idiot Brother is a decent late summer comedy and fans of Paul Rudd should enjoy another one of his very likeable performances. Check it out this weekend it’s not on the MADE level but if you are patient to get through the first act, you should be in for a few laughs mixed in with some good laid back entertainment.
IMDB: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
Movie Wiseguys: 7.0/10