Our Idiot Brother

This movie IS a comedy. There are many types of comedy and you don't have to laugh out loud the whole time for it to be a comedy. The movie is funny, charming, and very cute.

It really isn't about Ned's philosophy of expecting the best of others and seeing the good in them because even thought some people don't, and it can hurt you, more people do and everyone is better for it. It's about family dynamics, life choices, and learning to accept your own actions.

By accepting responsibility for your own actions you are able to free yourself to be more accepting of other people despite their flaws. Because we all have flaws.

Ned is less of a protagonist and more of a catalyst for change in his sisters' lives. The only reason I don't give this movie a 9 star rating is because the ending is a little on the weak side. They could have stopped the movie a few minutes earlier and it would have been stronger.

After Our Idiot Brother was over, I appreciated it the same way I did Identity Thief. Both movies were marketed as comedies... Yet, I didn't laugh very much. What I DID like though, was the way the characters were written in the two films. In Identity Thief, the jerk criminal played by Melissa McCarthy goes through a great personality transformation over the course of the movie, which is surprising, convincing and very sweet. If I ever watch it again, it's that I'd concentrate on... Not the negligible attempts at humour.

In Our Idiot Brother, the chap mentioned in the title as portrayed by Paul Rudd is a fool, yes... In his very first scene he sells cannabis to a police officer. IN UNIFORM. After his prison sentence has elapsed, he suffers the humiliation of losing his girlfriend and dog, before being forced to move in with his mother. At this point, observing his general idiocy and habit of letting people walk all over him, my empathy level for this guy stood at absolutely zero. Then, his three sisters enter stage left.

ALL of them have problems. One is a lesbian who's just fallen pregnant from a fling with a man. Another is married to Alan Partridge, who's banging a ballerina. The last one either gets a HOT story for her work as a journalist, or she might face the sack. Yep, it's yet ANOTHER dysfunctional All-American family (Still, watching a feature length flick about The Waltons would be rather dull, wouldn't you agree?)

Despite their own mounting difficulties, each one's opinion of their dopey brother range from tolerance to outright embarrassment. Yet, due to his happy-go-lucky attitude and general earnestness, he somehow helps each one out (albeit unintentionally for the most part) by just being his goofy, charming self. Not that they recognise this, though... And he eventually becomes a conduit for their own insecurities and frustrations, until it looks like the entire family might break up.

With a superb cast and witty, truthful dialogue, Our Idiot Brother, in it's quite short running length barely puts a foot wrong, in giving us a bunch of people who's lives we care about and proving that sometimes the idiot of the family can be the smartest one. I must say that being around someone like this all the time in real life would drive me CRAZY... I like those who are a little more confrontational and a little less eager to please. But you can't deny the impact he has on changing the lives of his siblings for the better... And for that alone, he earns my respect.

Very well done... 7/10

Jesse Peretz's 'Our Idiot Brother' is a decent watch, but what stands tall in this film, is, without a shed of doubt, Paul Rudd's lovable performance in the central role. The actor has never been so convincing before!

'Our Idiot Brother' tells the story of an idealistic man who intrudes and wreaks havoc in each of his three sisters' lives.

The film begins well, dips in the middle, but luckily, culminates properly. As said, it's a decent watch, that never really bores or loses it's pace. Evgenia Peretz & David Schisgall's Screenplay is good, but it could've been better, especially post 40-minutes. Jesse Peretz Directs this comedy-drama, ably. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are fair.

Performance-Wise: Paul Rudd delivers his careers most lovable/convincing performance in here. He literally owns the film. As his sisters, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer & Zooey Deschanel, are first-rate. Kathryn Hahn is perfect. Rashida Jones is passable. Steve Coogan is as usual. Others lend support.

On the whole, 'Our Idiot Brother' is a time-pass fare. A must watch for Rudd fanatics.

This film tells how a man who is so kind and honest that he manages to mess everyone's life up, including his own.

Ned is a young man with three sisters, and he goes to jail because he gave marijuana to a policeman who asks for it. He might appear very stupid to people, and indeed he is portrayed to be an idiot. However, it does beg the question whether an honest existence and a simplistic life is an undesirable or even a wrong life. I also had the thought that Ned in fact is living happily, unlike his three sisters who think he is stupid. The ending is a sweet and touching one, even though it is rather poorly developed and it feels like a very sudden paradigm shift for the characters involved. Overall, "Our Idiot Brother" is quite enjoyable as it is funny throughout, and is touching in the end.

Our Idiot Brother is probably the most harmless movie to come out this year, a very light and entertaining piece with a remarkably warm heart. At first I was frustrated by how thinly written the supporting characters were and how the sisters are some of the worst people put on film, but ultimately it's a necessary evil to get the film where it needs to go. It's a nice little study on the cynicism and selfishness of today's culture and how someone with a good heart and a sunny disposition just gets taken advantage of and abused for being decent.

There are a lot of funny moments throughout, most of them coming from Paul Rudd who plays a unique character for him (the rest of the actors were cast exactly in their wheelhouse) and is really just charming and kind the whole time. You really believe him in this role and Ned could have come off as too dim or annoyingly sweet, but Rudd makes him so likable and I just wanted to give him a big hug and hang out with him the whole time. Sure, there are plenty of flaws with how the characters were written, but in the end that's insignificant and just not what the film is about. It's an easy and touching film that sheds a light on how awful the majority has become, just like it's main character. Such a relaxed and easy viewing.