Saturday, August 27, 2011

Our Idiot Brother

Our Idiot Brother, directed by Jesse Peretz stars Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer and Hugh Dancy. With long hair and beard Paul Rudd nails the part of the ever-faithful brother who just can't seem to get it right. Life, love and relationships ring true in this heartfelt playful story bringing the summer comedies to a sweet ending.

Plot:
Every family 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 (Emily Mortimer), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned (Paul Rudd), 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. Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother and so, after his girlfriend dumps him and boots him off the farm, his sisters once again come to his rescue. As Liz, Miranda and Natalie each take a turn at housing Ned, their brother's unfailing commitment to honesty creates more than a few messes in their comfortable routines. 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.

While you won't be getting the cruder kinds of humor seen in previous summer flicks this year, you will get a very decent script well acted with lots of promising scenes. A few little draggy parts here and there but overall the actors owned the parts given and made for one heck of a film. Now the most disappointing part here is the trailers for this movie give away some of the more touching parts of the film. There are also some pivotal turning points that change the plot around. While I would have liked a bit more of a surprise in these areas I do understand the studio needs to push the selling points. So if you are going to be heading out for this one don't expect much else from the movie if anything.

Deeper than the hippie comedy bits is a real emotional story which as I stated above hits on life, morals and family. Relationships that fall apart and family ties that need mending. Some pleasant surprises had me ALMOST teary eyed, but the vamp in me kicked those suckers back just in the nick of time! Phew! In all honesty this was a refreshing film that touched on my sweet spot, Paul's character is hard not to love. While we may not all have a brother like this one it's nice to see that there are some people out there who love just to love. Would have enjoyed a little more camp from the actresses playing the sisters in the film but aside from that the rest of it all worked out.

I'm going to tack on the end here that this movie will probably appeal more to the ladies out there, not to say men can't enjoy it too. If you want to see a sincere comedy that spreads a little sunshine then go check this one out.

Getting 3 and 1/2 Willie Nelson Sheep
KD

3 comments:

  1. Wow, if this movie impressed a die-hard vamp gal then it MUST be worth seeing! I admit, I wrote it off as soon as I saw the ads (which I also admit, I didn't pay much attention to). Now I'll give it a chance. Thanks for the blog!

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  2. @Dani lol maybe I was just having an off day in the emo department. ;) But really, was better then I expected. Plus the doggie in it is just too sweet.

    Hope you enjoy it!

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  3. Through Ned’s presence in the lives of these three sisters, his honesty and integrity disrupts all of their lives, and Ned ends up back in jail. But by movie’s end their lives are resolved for the better, and Ned’s life is starting to look up as well.

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