OUR IDIOT BROTHER – The Review

In a Summer that’s been filled to the brim by all manner of rampant comedies going overboard with barrages of profanity and scatological excesses in their bid to capture the audience that made THE HANGOVER ( including it’s own sequel ) a box office bonanza, it’s refreshing to sit down to a funny film that relies more on well written situations and characters played by some of the most talented and charming actors working in motion picture and television comedy today. The film in question is Jesse Peretz’s OUR IDIOT BROTHER, Don’t be put off by the title-it’s one movie that doesn’t insult the audience’s intelligence.

That title refers to Ned played by Paul Rudd. Ned could almost be the more honest, naive, sweet-natured kid brother of the Dude ( Jeff Bridges’s icon of THE BIG LEBOWSKI ). We first encounter Ned as he’s arrested at his local farmers’ market for selling pot to a uniformed ( yes, uniformed ) cop. After an extended stay at the old grey bar hotel, courtesy of the state of New York , Ned returns to the organic farm he shared with his “old lady” Janet ( Kathryn Hahn, Rudd’s co-star from ANCHORMAN and HOW DO YOU KNOW ). She’s moved on, running the farm with new ” old man” Billy ( T.J. Miller from YOGI BEAR ). What’s worse is that she denies Ned access to his true, great love-a big, shaggy retriever named ” Willie Nelson”. The dejected Ned returns to his boyhood home where Mom ( Shirley Knight ) has gathered his three sisters for a big welcome home celebration. When the ladies leave they tell Ned that he’s welcome to drop in on them in NYC. He decides to do just that in his quest to earn enough money to buy a chicken farm. He picks up odd jobs while disrupting the lives of his three sisters. There’s Miranda ( Elizabeth Banks, Rudd’s co-star from THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and ROLE MODELS ) a single woman climbing the ladder as a feature writer at a Vanity Fair-type magazine while flirting with her cute neighbor ( Adam Scott from TV’s “Party Down” and “Parks and Recreations”). Sister Natalie ( ELF’s Zooey Deschanel ) is an aspiring stand-up comic and model who shares a big loft with her partner, lawyer Cindy ( Rashida Jones, Rudd’s co-star from I LOVE YOU MAN ) and several roomies. Finally there’s Liz ( CARS 2’s Emily Mortimer ) married to documentary film maker Dylan ( THE TRIP’s Steve Coogan ) and raising an infant while trying to get their young son Max accepted into an exclusive private school. After bringing Ned into their homes, the lives of these ladies will never be the same.

Well, how do I begin spreading the praise? Best to start with the director. Peretz keeps things moving briskly with a light touch. He also worked on the inventive script with his own sister,Evgenia and David Schisgall. I must also send kudos to the director ( and the casting department ) for assembling this fantastic group of actors. Banks is terrific as the no-nonsense, ambitious career women who finds that her job may depend on her goofball sibling. Deschanel exudes her usual pixie charm even when she is tempted by a hunky painter ( Hugh Darcy ). Mortimer’s very endearing as a mom who’s just gotten another project to juggle in her life. She’d have plenty on her plate if she just had her hubby. Is there another actor out there that plays boorish, pompous, arrogant, cretins to perfection like Mr. Coogan? Tip a’ the hat to Sterling Brown from TV’s “Army Wives” as Ned’s exasperated prole officer Omar. Hahn is able to make Janet a tough-as-nails hippie earth-mother who pushes Ned aside while intimidating the even more laid back Miller. As good as they are all, the movie belongs to the charming, endearing, loveably goofy Rudd. He’s been wonderful for years as a great supporting player in comedies going back to 1995’s CLUELESS as Alecia Silverston’s stepbrother to TV’s “Friends” as Phoebe’s great love to recently becoming part of the “Frat-pack” with ANCHORMAN and Judd Apatow’s rep company with KNOCKED UP. Ned is such a gentle soul, that we keep rooting for him to get his act together. I mentioned Ned owing a bit to “the Dude”, but there’s another inspiration. During a scene set in Ned’s childhood bedroom I noticed a familiar face in a poster mounted on the wall-the late, great Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. Later Ned introduces his nephew Max to the joys of the great star of Blake Edwards’s Pink Panther movie series. Actually Ned and Clouseau have quite a bit in common. While the inspector destroys fancy mansions ( ” That’s a priceless Steinway!” ” Not anymore.” ) and police investigations. Ned enters the scenes and makes a shambles of careers and relationships. But as we hope for Clouseau to solve the crime, we want to see Ned return to his roots and be reunited with his beloved ” Willie Nelson “. I look forward to many more Paul Rudd starring motion pictures.

The movie’s rated R for the talk of drug use ( Ned loves his herbs ), brief nudity ( a few seconds of a bare backside), and very mild profanity. It’s almost an old Disney comedy compared to the nonstop F-bomb dropping in many recent flicks ( I’m looking at you, THE CHANGE-UP! ). I’d say that OUR IDIOT BROTHER along with the coarser, but still clever BRIDESMAIDS are the funniest films of the the year. You know for a movie about an idiot, it’s pretty darned smart!

Overall Rating: Five Out of Five stars