Our Idiot Brother

Hi, everyone. Hope you all had a good Labor Day weekend. I had a nice one. Saw a few movies. Here's one of them.

Our Idiot Brother is a new comedy, directed by Jesse Peretz and starring Paul Rudd as a slightly thick-headed, good natured, hippie-ish guy who, after being arrested and jailed for selling weed to a uniformed cop (he said he was having one of those weeks), is forced to move back in with his family. His three sisters, each living very different, but successful lives, don't really want him around, so he kind of bounces from one sister to another, innocently throwing each of their lives into disarray.

This kind of thing is a pretty standard comedy formula: X-factor thrown into normal lives, x-factor messes everything up, x-factor helps characters realize that maybe they weren't living the ideal life after all, and everyone learns a lesson. What makes Our Idiot Brother stand out a little is just that it goes down easy. It has a far gentler tone than the other R-Rated comedies coming out these days. Paul Rudd's character is so goofy and likeable that I couldn't help just feeling happy watching it.

It was nice to see Rudd do something different. He's been playing those kind of Jack Lemmon-y schlubby guys a lot lately. But when you see him in things like Anchorman, Wet Hot American Summer, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you know he's actually a capable and versatile comedic character actor too. In Our Idiot Brother, Rudd's character Ned is gentle and overly trusting by nature, and has probably spent the last 20 years in a permanently stoned haze. His sisters have lived with it their entire lives and have little patience for him, but many of the people around him find him affable and easy to talk to, even confide in.

The supporting cast is all around very good, too. Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks, and Zooey Deschanel play his sisters, Steve Coogan as Emily Mortimer's documentarian husband, Adam Scott as Elizabeth Banks' sci-fi writer neighbor, and Rashida Jones as Zooey Deschanel's girlfriend. Elizabeth Banks and Rashida Jones are two of my favorite comedic actresses, and, having both worked with Paul Rudd before, are pretty in touch with his rhythms. One of my favorite subplots features Rashida Jones helping Ned get his dog, Willie Nelson, back from his ex-girlfriend, who is basically holding it hostage at their organic farm.

The movie plays out not unpredictably if you know the formula, but enjoyably enough. It's not going to change the world. I had a bit of a problem with the very last scene. There was a perfect end point for the movie, but it felt the need to tack on one last unnecessary scene at the end that felt pretty contrived. The movie goes on for maybe two minutes too long. Despite the ending, though, it's a very easy movie to like, and you'll probably come out of it in a pretty good mood.