Our Idiot Brother (2011)

A comedy centered on an idealist who barges into the lives of his three sisters.

Director:

Jesse Peretz

Writers:

Jesse Peretz (story), Evgenia Peretz (story),

Stars:

Paul Rudd, Nick Sullivan, Elizabeth Banks

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Rudd	...	Ned
Nick Sullivan	...	Customer
Francesca Papalia	...	Sadie
Bob Stephenson	...	Officer Washburn
Elizabeth Banks	...	Miranda
Peter Hermann	...	Terry
Adam Scott	...	Jeremy
Kelly Briter	...	Girl with Jeremy
Rashida Jones	...	Cindy
Zooey Deschanel	...	Natalie
Emily Mortimer	...	Liz
Steve Coogan	...	Dylan
Kathryn Hahn	...	Janet
T.J. Miller	...	Billy
Shirley Knight	...	Ilene

Storyline

Ned lived a happy life growing organic vegetables on a farm with his hippie girlfriend and his dog named Willie Nelson, but an unadvised incident with marijuana at a farmer's market lands him in jail. When he gets out of jail, he is off to live with his sisters. While Ned is still happy, his sisters are much less so after he manages to screw up one marriage, one job opportunity, one budding relationship and one domestic partnership. He sees those problems as breakdowns in communication, but his sisters see him as an idiot.

---

Plot Keywords:

jail | hippie | farmer | marijuana | marriage | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content including nudity, and for language throughout

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

My Idiot Brother

Filming Locations:

Kaufman Astoria Studios - 3412 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$7,011,631 (USA) (26 August 2011)

Gross:

$24,809,547 (USA) (11 November 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Weinstein Company, The, Big Beach Films, Likely Story

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rashida Jones and Paul Rudd previously played a couple in I Love You, Man. Here she plays Ned's sister's girlfriend.

---

Goofs

In one scene River injures the fingers of his right hand. In the next scene the fingers of his left hand are in a splint.

---

Quotes

Ned: I need some leg warmers, my Croc is stuck!

---

Crazy Credits

Bloopers and outtakes shown during the closing credits.

---

Connections

References Gimme a Break! (1981)

User Reviews

Charming and hilarious

A hilarious movie written for Paul Rudd: what more could we want?

Rudd plays Ned, a stoner who has frizzled his neurons to the point that he has lost any ability to detect or dish out B.S. The poster child for what it means to be ingenuous, Ned is a trusting, playful, adorable stray puppy who isn't quite housebroken. So you-know-what hits the fan when his three sisters serially take him in after his release from jail. He's nothing but tsuris. It's no wonder that his most enduring relationship is with his dog, Willie Nelson.

Thanks to Rudd's everyman persona and the genial obliviousness he brings to Ned, you can't help but feel empathy. As with a suspense film where the audience knows what's going to happen but the characters are still in the dark, you want to yell out to warn Ned before he screws up again. His perfect comic timing and the made-to-order script make sure you get the most laughs from his predicament. Luckily, there's more to him than just bad luck. He's also an endearing white angel on the shoulders of his sisters, helping them fight their devils as he becomes an unwitting catalyst for change.

The movie's impressively talented and good-looking cast includes Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, and Elizabeth Banks (looking a lot like Parker Posey) as sisters. What's more, Rashinda Jones and Hugh Dancy add to the already high eye-candy quotient. Steve Coogan plays Ned's deliciously distasteful brother-in-law in his inimitable unpleasant-guy way.

The film is smartly directed by Jesse Peretz from a story he developed with his sister, Evgenia Peretz. I saw this at the Sundance screening in Brookline, Massachusetts, where director Peretz said they wrote it for Rudd, whom he clearly enjoys working with, and who wouldn't? Even though they stuck to the script, Rudd improvised at least two of the movie's funniest bits.

A fun ride throughout, the film only has a couple of weak spots. One scene has Ned comfortably telling a white lie, something so out of character it was jolting to the point of distraction. The ending could use some reshaping, and perhaps it might get some before general release. But even as is, this movie is about as charming and hilarious as Rudd can be, which is quite sizable.