Our Idiot Brother Review

 Our Idiot Brother Review

Starring: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel
Director: Jesse Peretz
Year: 2011

Kindness is a weird thing. There are people who are really nice, and then life kind of fucks them over because it’s life, and that’s how it works. Then occasionally you meet people who don’t have that mindset and only see the kindness in other people, are oblivious to the mean things people will do, and still end up in the wrong place. That’s Paul Rudd in this movie. And the story follows him fresh out of prison (from selling weed to a cop in uniform... yeah) and he now can’t go back to his old girlfriend’s house, so he drifts between his sisters and mom’s houses. And ultimately it’s a good movie. For an hour and a half they give like maybe five plus storylines, one between each of these characters families, then he gets his own, then technically there was like two going on with one of his sisters, and yeah, a lot happens. And no, it doesn’t feel bloated. It’s supposed to be a comedy, and I’ve heard people say, “how dare it be a drama, it was marketed as a comedy!” But really dude, nobody cares how something is marketed, it affects nothing about the movie. And I like all of the families. Paul Rudd is pretty much the only character you give a damn about, but everyone else is a friendly face you’ve seen before, and you like all of them. And nobody really is an asshole, they’re people. And when they get mad at Paul Rudd, you can understand, I’d probably get mad as well. But in reality he’s not being an idiot, he’s being nice, and actually making things better by breaking these barriers between these characters. Truth shall set you free, man. Thank God he doesn’t actually talk like that. Anyway, are there a couple things bad about the movie? Sure, one I don’t like the title a whole lot. I feel it insults the character a little bit. Second, it doesn’t seem to try to be something that special. And when it doesn’t try, it’s not. It’s just another movie, and there’s nothing wrong with that, I enjoy my breaks between blockbusters, but independent movies like this can go big or go home and make something even more special. And they didn’t seem to want to make something that special. Also, I don’t like when things are like R rated for little reason. One glorious F bomb and little curses plus a tiny nude scene could be cut out, cutting like ten seconds, and there wouldn’t be anything different. Aside from that, there was not really anything bad about this movie, let alone any big flaws. It’s a simple dramedy with a lot of charm. And I like all the actors, and their performances, especially Paul Rudd’s. His character just made me want to be nicer and kinder, and that’s probably the biggest plus about this movie. It’s a quick feel good movie. It’s worth a watch, and your attention.

Our Idiot Brother gets a 3/5

Spoilers: Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton... yep. Anyway, I liked at the end of the movie all the storylines came full circle, and for the better. And if Ned hadn’t done these awful things, none of that good things wouldn’t have happened. Karma. Boom.

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