Review: Our Idiot Brother

Paul Rudd is a laidback, hippie-ish guy who naively tries to sell marijuana to a uniformed police officer. It’s not that he’s really stupid, it’s just that he likes to believe in the good in people, which means he gets a genuine surprise when the initially reassuring police officer turns around and arrests him anyway, throwing him in jail. OK, so clearly he’s not a genius, but is it really his fault that everyone else fails to be as nice and genuine as him? Released from jail, he finds that his pacifist girlfriend (Kathryn Hahn) has moved on with another dope (T.J. Miller) and wants custody of his dog (named Willie Nelson, of course). So now with no home, no girl, and no dog, Rudd visits his three sisters to find a place to stay, as he doesn’t want to be a burden to their mother (Shirley Knight) and live at home. Unfortunately, as well-meaning as he may be, Rudd’s lack of social awareness and inability to lie or keep a secret, drive his sisters nuts because he exposes their flaws, foibles, and insecurities. Emily Mortimer is mousy sister Liz, married to a pompous documentarian douchebag (played by the one and only Steve Coogan), and who is overprotective of their child, not allowing him to have any fun whatsoever. Coogan reluctantly manages to get Rudd a job on the set of his latest film, but of course he botches that. Elizabeth Banks plays sister Miranda, an ambitious magazine reporter, trying to get the dirt on tight-lipped celeb Lady Arabella Galloway (a gorgeous Janet Montgomery), thinks her big break has come when Galloway and Rudd seem to get along like a house on fire. Finally, there’s sister Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), a lesbian wannabe stand-up comedian with a solid partnership with lawyer Rashida Jones. It is Jones who helps Rudd find the courage and the legal representation to man up and go get his beloved dog back. Unfortunately, Natalie’s not all that great at the fidelity thing, and chooses the wrong person to tell of her indiscretion, if secrecy was in any way the goal. Adam Scott plays Banks’ friend and neighbour, whom Rudd senses a chemistry between Banks and Scott.

 

Directed by Jesse Peretz (“The Ex” and “The Chateau”, both featuring Rudd) and scripted by his sister Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall (normally a documentary filmmaker and Evgenia Peretz’s husband), this 2011 comedy is like a subtle and more substantial “Dumb and Dumber”. In fact, one of the more interesting things about it is that although hopelessly naive and socially inept, Paul Rudd’s supposedly ‘idiot brother’, is not quite an idiot. He’s a total space cadet and no genius, sure, and it’s not hard to see why everyone thinks he’s an idiot. But the point of the whole film seems to be that his family (and everyone else, basically) don’t see him for the sweet, well-meaning, and laidback guy he really is, and aren’t seeing their own flaws, either. When he inadvertently exposes their flaws, they’re mad at him when in reality, it’s their own bad behaviour that is to blame. Rudd’s character is the only one who can see what is really important in life, and he’s the only one who isn’t in some way kinda miserable in their life.

 

Rudd has never been more likeable playing one of the more winning characters in comedies of late, the film is also frequently funny. Hell, even Steve Coogan gets a funny role for the first time in, well, hardly ever. Rudd’s reaction to a threesome is especially hilarious, and almost sweet...in a messed up way. I just love how atypically his character behaved in social situations, the relationship between him and T.J. Miller is especially cute. Miller is the new boyfriend of Rudd’s ex, and they should hate each other, but Miller is the only one in the whole film who seems to genuinely like Rudd and treat him like an equal. Probably because they’re pretty much two peas in a pod (or should that be ‘pea brains’?). I’ve always found Rudd to have a bit of a jerk screen persona, but here he’s adorable. The entire cast is pretty good, with Coogan especially funny as a glib jerk who barely conceals his contempt for Rudd (and why bother trying, it’s not like Rudd would notice!). However, I must confess the parenting skills exhibited by him and Mortimer are a tad reminiscent of Rick Moranis and Harley Jane Kozak in “Parenthood”.

 

It’s a good comedy, definitely one of the more consistent of late, and features a memorable central character as well. I just plain liked this film. It made me smile.

 

Rating: B-