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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #21 in Movie
Released on: 2011-11-29
Rating: R (Restricted)
Running time: 90 minutes
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful.
Rudd Scores With A Big Hearted Relationship Dramedy: Unexpectedly Charming And Understated
By K. Harris
With its cast of comedy heavyweights, its rather silly title, and a marketing campaign geared in the wrong direction--"Our Idiot Brother" is a film that may certainly fail to meet the expectations of an audience looking for a rude and ribald laugh riot. And others that would be more likely to appreciate its simpler charms might be wary to sample it due to these preconceived notions. But I have to say--for my money, "Our Idiot Brother" is a refreshingly sweet family dramedy. It has such a big heart and an underlying goodness and faith in humanity that is rare to see. The movie doesn't have lofty goals or aspire to be an important viewing experience, and its lack of pretensions are appreciated. This is simply an entertaining film with a cast sharing great chemistry and gentle humor. Paul Rudd plays the titular lead, the so-called idiot brother. Rudd, always a strong comedic presence, doesn't get enough credit for being a genuinely terrific actor with unexpected range. Here, his character is so guileless and so genuine that he opts to see only the very best in people. His honesty, innocence, and willingness to really connect with others sometimes gets him into hot water. He seems unwilling or unable to plug into the negative energy stream, and just wants to live free and love. So silly, so sweet, and so surprisingly smart--there are quite a few layers at work here. I think it's a great performance. Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer are Rudd's trio of sisters. Each is navigating a complicated personal crisis and Rudd's return home from prison wreaks havoc on their carefully constructed lives. But is he really the problem? Or might there be a method to his madness?Part of why I enjoyed "Our Idiot Brother" so much was that it had the potential to be a disaster. To pull off sweet charm without crossing the line into sentimental treacle is a fine balancing act that many films fail to straddle successfully. Here, there is a tartness to all of the performances (and really, you couldn't ask for a better cast) that grounds the relationships believably. Steve Coogan, Adam Scott, Shirley Knight, Rashida Jones, and Hugh Dancy all have noteworthy moments as well. Sweet without being saccharine, quirky without being ridiculous--this simple and straightforward movie was a real delight. And Rudd, in particular, scores big. KGHarris, 11/11.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Great stuff... even if the sisters are too dense.
By N. S. Michael
Paul Rudd's very sweet and endearing comedy about a stoner who just likes living a happy life in our cynical and often cruel world is a welcome comedy in this recent era of gross-out blockbusters (many of which you can find Rudd in, courtest of Apatow).Ned (Rudd) is an organic farmer who is just too nice. So nice that he readily sells marijuana to someone he KNOWS is a cop. Of course, he only accepted money from the officer because said policeman INSISTED on paying for it... Ned was just going to give it away.That tells you the kind of person Ned is... nice to the point of stupidity.Once he gets out of jail and on probation, he pretty much plays a game of round robin, living alternately with his three sisters who each have their own issues that Ned can't help but complicate. Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) is trying to track down a story that she could source Ned on... if only he would lie (which he won't). Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) is pregnant, normally something to celebrate if she weren't in a committed relationship with another woman (Rashida Jones), a fact which Ned can't keep to himself. And, finally, Liz (Emily Mortimer) is married to a frustrating git of a pseudo-artiste husband (played here brilliantly by Steve Coogan as the guy you love to hate) whom Ned finds out is cheating on her.Jesse Peretz has put together a great cast that gels well in all of their roles and the movie only suffers here and there in terms of delivery, pacing and overall plotting. I loved Katy Hahn and TJ Miller as Ned's ex and her new boyfriend respectively. It especially worked in the denouement when we finally find out Ned's fate in terms of life and love. TJ Miller usually annoys me as he's typecast as the jerk slacker in most of his other roles (She's Out of My League, Cloverfield), but he really settled into his part of overly-helpful Billy. Really, he's just another Ned in the world and, even though we only see him in a few scenes, it worked.The main problem I had with the film was just how quickly the third act resolution occurs, when the sisters all finally have their "duh" moment and realize that Ned's way of looking at the world is better than theirs. It all felt rushed, as if the story focused too much on how Ned unintentionally knocks down their house of card lives and not enough on how they would have to put them back together.Still there was a lot for me to love about this film. I'd recommend at least a rental, if not a purchase. It's definitely worth seeing for all the feel-good laughs to be had, even if there's nothing really laugh-out-loud until you get to the outtakes.
16 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
An Indie Comedy Masquerading as a Mainstream Comedy
By Joshua Miller
Our Idiot Brother premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was well-received enough that the Weinstein Company picked it up for distribution. With an indie sensibility strongly intact, it's not a film typically found in wide release, despite boasting actors well-acquainted with the mainstream and story elements similar to those found in more mainstream fare. The independent style of the film, not reflected in the look or quality of the film, just the way the story is told, may alienate mainstream viewers unable to accept the quirky nature of the characters.
The premise is pretty simplistic. We first meet Ned (Paul Rudd), the idiot brother of the title, working at a farmer's market alongside his dog Willie Nelson. Ned is yanked from his peaceful existence after he sells weed to a police officer. A police officer in uniform. After he is released from prison, Ned, whose beard and scruffy appearance make him resemble Jesus, finds that his hippie girlfriend (Kathryn Hahn) has moved on and refuses to return Willie Nelson to him. Ned has three sisters: Liz (Emily Mortimer), an insecure housewife and mother, married to Dylan (Steve Coogan), a heartless documentary filmmaker; Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), a journalist for Vanity Fair ruthlessly attempting to publish her first article; and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), a bi-sexual hipster who lives with her girlfriend Cindy (Rashida Jones) and five other roommates. The script places Ned in the care of his three sisters, where he proceeds to intervene in their lives and wreak havoc.
There's not much more to it than that as Our Idiot Brother is rather short on plot, but makes up for it with an almost unheard of amount of emphasis on character. The characters in the film are well-developed, with distinctly drawn personalities that ultimately set them (and the film) apart from traditional Hollywood fare. The characters inhabiting the film (with only a few exceptions) are perpetually nice, particularly the "idiot" of the title. Ned is achingly sweet, very trusting, easily manipulated, easy-going, and seemingly incapable of lying. His character is a person that could make the world a better place and he's not so much an "idiot" as a very gentle soul. Paul Rudd, who possesses a charm and likability that is unequaled by his contemporaries, really carries this movie and is most responsible for making it work. Ned is such a warm character that he's nearly impossible to dislike, even if you don't like the film itself.
The sisters of Our Idiot Brother don't fall into the Hollywood trapping of being tired clichés, although some of the characterization may initially seem familiar. Just the idea that three siblings can be so vastly different, with their only similarity being their love for each other is kind of a cliché at this point. What's refreshing is that familiar elements like Liz being an insecure housewife unaware that she's married to a snake and Miranda being a bossy, ruthless journalist attempting to establish herself while alienating male attention are developed enough that it's easy to accept and believe. Even Natalie isn't the typical Hollywood lesbian, as her character's sexuality doesn't seem to be used to provoke a reaction. It's treated with realism, with only the slightest acknowledgement that it's out of the ordinary (for some people). All three are very capable actresses and they carry the film just as much as Rudd. Deschanel brings a deadpan-perfection to her role and is able to play with the most original character arc of the three. All three sisters bring different styles of humor, but I found Deschanel most amusing, although this could be a biased evaluation due to my complete adoration for her. All of the characters are quirky, as is the norm for an indie comedy, but the script fleshes them out and makes them three-dimensional. The film makes a valiant attempt to draw its comedy from the characters rather than relying on contrived situations and clever quips to make up its humor. Our Idiot Brother has its share of clever dialogue certainly, but it's much more pre-occupied with character interactions.
This movie will have its share of people who dislike it. Marketed as a comedy, Our Idiot Brother is not a full-blown comedy in the vein of Judd Apatow with laugh-out-loud moments every few seconds. Remember that `comedy' is defined as "a movie of light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending." A comedy is not required to make its audience laugh every few seconds or even once, for that matter. The dialogue between Ned and his parole officer (an amusing performance by Sterling K. Brown) early on is very funny, but the majority of the film simply maintains a tone of comedy without becoming a complete laugh riot.
During the first half of Our Idiot Brother, I wasn't sure if I was actually enjoying the film. It seemed a bit uneven, wasn't hilariously funny, and its "witless man helps better the lives of those around him" plot has been done to death in Hollywood. What I found was that Our Idiot Brother is a slow-build that sinks in as it progresses. The script/film is not perfect, but takes a familiar story and does something effective and successful with it. It's a heartwarming film that works on the strengths of its characters and the emotion it draws from you on their behalf. By the time it reached its "cutesy" ending (strongly reminiscent of (500) Days of Summer), I accepted it as a perfectly logical conclusion. Opinions will be sharply divided over the film, but there's plenty to like about the characters that inhabit it and the performances that carry it.
GRADE: B+
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