Our Idiot Brother (2011)

Real men wear crocs.

Ned (Paul Rudd) is a seemingly clueless idealist who must rely upon his three exasperated sisters (Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks and Zooey Deschanel) for shelter and support after he’s dumped by his fed-up girlfriend (Kathryn Hahn) and loses custody of his beloved dog, Willie Nelson. As he wreaks havoc on his sisters’ lives, Ned’s earnestness shines through until his siblings realize that family ties take priority over wealth and position.

I’m a huge fan of Paul Rudd so when I heard that he was going to get his own vehicle, practically playing the same guy he always plays, I was uber excited. However, there could have been a better film for that vehicle.

The script here is one of the major problems because it seems like the same thing over and over again. We get Rudd moving in with his sisters and one-by-one shows how each and everyone of them are so incredibly shallow and bad, just by being himself and gets kicked out of all of their houses. But then when all the sissies are pissed at Rudd, have them all apologize and try to get his love back, with a sub-plot from a dog named Willie Nelson.

It’s also a problem when the film also has one of those deals where all the humor is in the two-minute trailer clip, and the rest is all obvious and cheesy drama. I expected some pretty funny stuff here not only with the talent involved, but because of the plot and the actual title which seems like a title from a Marx Brothers or Three Stooges flick. It’s just that too much of it here is way too serious and thin to actually laugh at.

However, the things I liked about this film weren’t completley over-shadowed by the bad. I liked Ned’s out-look on life and just how damn simple and happy everything was in his life. This guy is just really cool, nice, and sweet to everyone to the point of where he gives practically every person he meets, a chance to do good. I wish there were more people like this that I knew in the world and I wish that the script didn’t just rely on this great character for some cheap gags.

Also, the cast is pretty alright here even though they have all done things 100000 times better than this, mainly Paul Rudd. Paul Rudd plays Ned the same way he plays every character in any of his film but he’s just so damn likable that it’s almost too hard to be annoyed by his coolness. He sees good in everyone and although everybody around him are a bunch of dicks, he still stays cool and true to himself, which is what Paul Rudd has always been able to show off well.

The rest of the cast does what they can but they all are just too one-note to actually seem believable and nobody really does anything funny. Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer play Ned’s sisters and do what they can but a lot of the time they just seem like their complaining about how bad Ned makes them seem, when they should because their all terrible people. Rashida Jones, Steve Coogan, Adam Scott, and Kathryn Hahn are also here as well and do their own thangs but really aren’t that funny.

It’s also a shame that the funniest member of the cast was T.J. Miller as the organic farmer named Billy, who has about 10 lines, which all seem ad-libbed, but is so cool and funny that’s almost hard not to forget him from an almost terribly forgettable film. It’s just such a shame that this whole cast really looks amazing but do nothing here in a film that takes itself way too seriously, and I think in the hands of Judd Apatow, this could have really been something hilarious, but instead just whatever.

Consensus: Paul Rudd is charming and the film has it’s fair shares of sweet moments, but Our Idiot Brother is too thinly written, too serious, and just too much of a huge comedic let-down to actually be one of the most memorable comedies I have ever seen, but it’s just OK.

5/10=Rental!!