Our Idiot Brother
August. 26,2011 REverybody has one—the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz, Miranda and Natalie, that person is their perennially upbeat brother, Ned. But as each of their lives begins to unravel, Ned's family comes to realise that Ned isn't such an idiot after all.
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Reviews
The Worst Film Ever
Overrated
It is a performances centric movie
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
With having seen Paul Rudd recently star in David Gordon Green's Prince Avalanche,I was pleased to get told by a family friend that he had recently picked up another title starring Rudd,which led to me getting ready to find out how idiotic this brother could be.The plot:Released from jail after serving time for supplying a cop with marijuana,Ned Rochlin heads back to the farm,where he lives with his girlfriend Janet and their dog Willie Nelson. Receiving a slightly different reaction to the one he expected,Ned is told by Janet that a she now has a new boyfriend,and that he needs to get off her land.Meeting his family for the first time in months,Ned is disappointed to find each family member (his mum and 3 sisters called Miranda, Natalie and Liz) being unable to get on with each other.Pressing on her daughter Liz and her film maker husband Dylan,Ned's mum gets Liz & Dylan to grudgingly offer him a job of helping them around the house.Initially wanting to keep their "odd" brother out of their lives,Ned soon begins to completely change his sisters lives.View on the film:Giving the film a kooky indie vibe,the gorgeous trio of Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer & Zooey Deschanel each give splendid performances,with Banks showing a real relish in using Ned to get her first scoop,whilst Deschanel shows Natalie to be dazed over committing to a relationship,as Emily Mortimer gradually forces Liz out of her self-confined shell.Joining the gals,Steve Coogan gives an excellent slime-ball performance as Liz's husband Dylan.Countering Coogan's slimy performance,Paul Rudd brilliantly makes sure that Ned never becomes sappy,thanks to Rudd giving Ned a warm sincerity in improving his family members lives.Keeping away from giving the title a bad bone in its body,co-writer/ (along with Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall) director Jesse Peretz uses Ned naivety to give the film a sweet natured innocence which allow for the hilariously seedy & peculiar aspects of Ned's family members to really shine,as they each discover that Ned is far from an idiotic brother.
This is a cute and gentle comedy about Ned who Paul Rudd captures really well. Ned is an unfailingly honest organic farmer, happily growing vegetables on a farm with his hippie girlfriend when he sort of-accidentally sells marijuana to a cop at a farmers market and lands in jail. Upon release Ned has to turn to his to his sisters for help after his girlfriend kicks him out. He soon gets on their nerves though with his naïve ways and good intentions.Cute and funny this definitely had its moments but ultimately a nothing sort of movie that will be easily forgotten. Paul Rudd does a good job and the extended cast is great. 10.13
I feel like this movie was marketed as a more traditional big-budget comedy. The tone is more like an indie drama; I felt like I was watching Lovely And Amazing. This is not how I want to watch Paul Rudd. I will admit he inhabited the role, but my preference is to watch him play guys with the acerbic wit like in Role Models. So in this movie, he's a laid back hippie dude who bumbles through life, contrasted by his ambitious sisters, all career-driven with no time for his antics. As I said, doesn't at all feel like a Hollywood comedy; it is paced like and has the tone of a small budget character study. Ned's motivation is to get a job to earn enough money to rent a room on his ex-girlfriend's organic farm and reunite with his dog. He just wants to spend time with his family and enjoy life. As he floats between his three sisters' homes, he fouls up each of their lives with his bumbling, clueless honesty. In the end he finds happiness running a homemade candle shop and meets a nice lady. I wasn't that into it.
I've never seen a "comedy" that was more of a yawn. The reviews called it "gentle" and "charming." I found it "boring" and "dreadful." The story is basic, Paul Rudd's character is an optimistic dweeb who can't read people and generally thinks that everyone is his friend. The pseudo-hippie gets busted for selling drugs to a cop in the first ten minutes, and then once released from jail spends an indefinite number of painful moments making his sisters miserable. (And painful is a great word...watching this movie was akin to having a root canal with minimal anesthetic.None of the characters are in the least bit believable, and their interactions are pathetic considering the talent. The film is reminiscent of a poorly rehearsed high school play where the pauses are awkward and the dialogue flatly delivered. None are believable. Perhaps the strangest of all was Steve Coogan who looked decidedly like a young Tiny Tim in his long hair.