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2011, 08-22:
Review of film: “OUR IDIOT BROTHER”
Have you ever been around an extremely “TRUSTING” and good-hearted person who tends to be a bit “OBLIVIOUS” of reality?... That’s a good description of Ned (PAUL RUDD)...
... Paul loves the “simple” life such as FARMING, & happily runs a vegetable stand at a sort of Farmer’s Market in a small town...
... There, a local COP, Officer Washburn (BOB STEPHENSON), comes by, claims he’d been having a “hard time” in life, & urges Paul to find him some “WEED” to smoke...
... Paul points out, that’s sort of an odd request coming froma LAW-enforcement officer. The cop says, well, he’s just “human” & NEEDS some of it to relax... Paul then trustingly GIVES him some at no charge-- only to have the cop ARREST him & put him in JAIL for the “sale” of an illegal substance!...
... When Paul gets out, his old girlfriend Janet (KATHRYN HAHN) on their farm won’t even let him STAY there anymore, feeling he’s unreliable & in-effect an IDIOT for the way he gave weed to a cop in plain sight of others...
... Not only is she unkind to him when he’d long WORKED on the farm (which he loved), she bosses around her new boyfriend Billy (T.J. MILLER) & insists he not even allow Paul to take his DOG “Willie Nelson” as he wants to do...
... Needing somewhere to stay, Paul goes to the different homes of his SISTERS...
... One sister, Cindy (RASHIDA JONES) is a lesbian who happily lives with her lover Natalie (ZOOEY DESCHANEL)...
... Other sisters are Miranda (ELIZABETH BANKS) and Liz (EMILY MORTIMER)...
... The sisters don’t hesitate to tell Paul that he’s an “IDIOT”, detailing what he’s done that upsets them...
... It reaches a point that, Paul HIMSELF keeps telling others that he’s an “idiot”, & seems “unconcerned” about that situation-- simply going “blithely” along in life doing FOOLISH things:
... He rides on a New York area subway and asks a young stranger to hold some CASH for him for a minute while he “rearranges” himself in the seating area...
... He talks to his PAROLE officer & foolishly opens-up to him about how he’s smoking WEED again...
... It’s not that his sisters have any perfect personalities or lives: one has a cheating “photographer” husband Dylan (STEVE COOGAN), which PAUL inadvertently “reveals” to the sister (which naturally leads to “complications”)...
... Another sister is exceptionally BOSSY around her live-in boyfriend Jeremy (ADAM SCOTT), who’s one of the few people who tends to treat Paul decently...
... To put it bluntly, Paul’s often a SCREW-UP -- a hippyish “SLACKER” who may have good “intentions” but very imperfect “FOLLOW-THRU”...
... Will Paul make a “go” of a new JOB opportunity?... Will he be able to get his dog back from his ex-girlfriend?...
... Will he be able to create an effective NEW relationship with a girlfriend?... Will he get his sisters to start RESPECTING him more?...
... Paul Rudd is one of my favorite comedy actors. He usually does a wonderful “UNDERSTATED” job. While he’s good in this, I found his character written as being very “ONE-NOTE”, with the way he kept acting so “dim” & insisting the problems around him were due to “MIS-COMMUNICATIONS” & the like...
... Tho there’s a periodically interesting “conglomeration” of characters in this movie, sadly, I found almost all the writing disappointingly WEAK, with a great dearth of CLEVERNESS, & most of the “relationships” thus didn’t “GO” much of anywhere of worth...
... While this film seemed to be one of the “favorites” at the SUNDANCE Festival, to me, there was little real “SPARK” inherent in the almost-disappointing “doings” of most of the people we meet... People acting inherently “DENSE” just isn’t my “cup of chocolate”...
... Some people may have found the purposely-“quirky-ish” tone in this film to be sort of “charming”-- but I’m sorry to say I found it SUB-PAR & just mildly funny... Thus, my rating is a disenchanted 7.0 out of 10 stars...
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