OUR IDIOT BROTHER

Our Idiot Brother stars Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Rashida Jones, Steve Coogan and Adam Scott. Directed by Jesse Peretz. Rated R with a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Plot: Ned (Paul Rudd), is an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence. After being released from jail for selling pot to a uniformed police officer, Ned's girlfriend kicks him off of his farm and he is forced to live with his three sisters (Mortimer, Banks, Deschanel) visiting one after the other after they each eventually kick him out for meddling in their lives. But as each of their lives begins to unravel, Ned's family comes to realize that maybe, in believing and trusting the people around him, Ned isn't such an idiot after all.

The cast in this film was very promising since it is full of some of the best comedic talent working today. Paul Rudd would either make or break the movie since the whole movie is basically about him and his relationships with his sisters. Rudd does a good job in the movie and delivers the laughs as needed, he definitely made the movie. But unfortunately he is not enough to make this movie a top comedy of the year, instead it's just a mediocre comedy.

I found the sister characters to be very uninteresting as they were all portrayed as neurotic women with men problems. It's nothing against the actresses (Mortimer, Banks, Deschanel) but the script made these characters annoying and it made me not want to sympathize with them. They were all actually quite mean to Ned so that didn't help with the audience caring for them. Another problem I had with the film was that it ended rather abruptly and I was left feeling like the story wasn't finished. It should have showed more scenes with Ned and his sisters after all the crazy debacles they encountered.

Two actors who did great work in this film were Paul Rudd and T.J. Miller. Miller is a rising comic actor and has been in films such as She's Out of My League and a small part in Get Him to the Greek. He has a rather small role in this movie too but he doesn't waste a second when he is on screen and is hilarious throughout as the guy who moves in to the farm with Ned's girlfriend. Rudd plays Ned in the unique way in that yes he does make idiotic choices but he is an all around nice guy so the audience can relate to him. Paul Rudd and T.J. Miller deliver the laughs in Our Idiot Brother but they aren't quite enough to make this comedy stand out in what has been the summer of R rated comedies.

B-