Our Idiot Brother tells the story of an “idiot” who sells weed to a police officer, gets sent to jail, then gets released and after his girlfriend has moved on to a new guy, he has nowhere to live which is when he becomes a burden on his three sisters hectic lives.
THE ACTORS
I like Paul Rudd, but even i can admit that he isn’t bringing anything new to the table except for one pivotal scene in the movie. His acting isn’t bad, but it isn’t award winning. The three sisters however are played excellently by Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks and Emily Mortimer. Three completely different characters which have their own faults.
Paul Rudd’s character, Ted, is not an idiot in my opinion, i think he is extremely naive but not an idiot as the title of the film suggests. Ted is probably the only person out of his siblings who is honest and trusting, sometimes to a ridiculous extent, but when compared to his secretive, defensive sisters, he comes off in a great light.
THE DIRECTOR
Jesse Peretz is not a particularly daring director, he does the shots, sets them up, tells the story, then moves on. Very direct but unfortunately, compared to even just other comedy directors, a direct approach to camera angles, colouring, etc. just doesn’t cut it anymore.
LAUGHTER FACTOR
This film is not that funny, i smiled a few times and only managed a short laugh at one point during the whole movie. I would class it as a Dramedy however it would still need to be funnier than this.
CONCLUSION
Our Idiot Brother is an unfunny comedy with some decent performances, average direction and a mish-mash story. Give it a miss unless you are a die hard Paul Rudd fan or someone so up themselves they only want to watch indie movies.
MY SCORE
5/10