Our Idiot Brother
Starring Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Rashida Jones, Steve Coogan and Adam Scott
Written by Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall
Directed by Jesse Peretz
Rated 14A (Canada), R (USA)
Synopsis: Even jail can’t make Paul Rudd mean. I mean seriously, isn’t that guy just the best?
01. I like Paul Rudd. Don’t you? I think everyone does. The man is just plain charming, and that’s a big reason Our Idiot Brother works as well as it does. It’s a movie whose entire premise is not making you hate the dim-witted nice guy (Ned, played by Rudd) who accidentally causes trouble for his siblings. How naive is he? He sold marijuana to a cop. How nice is he? He got let out early because all the convicts and staff in prison liked him so much.
02. With no more home, where does Ned go? To family, of course. He apologizes for the imposition, but ultimately he begins to wear on his sisters and disrupts their relationships through no real fault of his own. He’s perfectly nice, absolutely guileless. He is completely honest and believes that everybody else is, because why wouldn’t they be? He repeats and reports things he probably shouldn’t because he figures people are acting decently and responsibly. Does that make him an idiot? Maybe. Probably. But goddammit, he’s just so nice. And how do you really fault a person for being nice? If you can manage to do that, how can you fault a person for being nice and having a beloved dog named Willie Nelson that he longs to get back from his less scrupulous ex girlfriend? You can’t, that is just science.
03. Well, his family members do, of course. The cast is wonderful and they sell their characters with aplomb. Elizabeth Banks is awesome as a career writer hungry for a break. Emily Mortimer made me sad as a mother whose marriage is falling apart and Zooey Deschanel brings a manic energy and similar likeability as Rudd, making their scenes wonderful to watch as the actors bounce off each other. She’s kind of like a Ned who lies. Cue hijinks!
The movie is stolen, however, by Rashida Jones as the most adorable lesbian ever. I mean seriously, it is surreal. The whole movie, I just wanted to hang out with her and, as the creator [Ed Note: DON’T RUIN THIS FOR ME] of the word “lesbro,” I like to think I’m somewhat of an expert on being friends with lesbians. Jones is one of the supporting players in the movie, but dang, if she doesn’t just kill every scene she’s in.
04. Ultimately, this is not an ambitious, bold summertime movie. It doesn’t swing for big zany heights and it is better for it. It makes the gutsier move to tell a simple, heartfelt story that’s full of laughs, with good characters played by talented comedic actors who know how to give an understated performance. Each of the characters could have been a one-note stereotype, but the filmmakers were smart to push past this by centering the movie on their family relationships and the actors were smart enough to imbue the characters with a depth that others might have glossed over.
Actually, that does sound kind of ambitious, doesn’t it? Hooray!
05. More than anything else, however, this movie is great because it’s not mean to its title character. It genuinely likes him and like some other movies with names insulting their characters - The 40 Year Old Virgin and Dinner for Schmucks - it really says that there’s nothing wrong with these people; what’s wrong is thinking there is. Ned is a nice guy and I left the theatre feeling good after watching a funny, smart and kindhearted film about him. I wish I saw more movies like this. There should be more movies like this.
Recommended if you like: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Stranger Than Fiction and good movies
