On its face, Our Idiot Brother could be considered an homage to Hannah and her Sisters; it's not as if Woody Allen put any copyright on there being three sisters living in wealthy, bohemian Manhattan, but he set down an effective template for the way that they should interact that Brother is doubtlessly aware of. Allen's interloper in that film is replaced here with a fourth sibling, the titular idiot brother whose sudden intrusion into their lives threatens to up-end everything that they've been building in his absence. While neither as ambitious or insightful as its spiritual godfather, Idiot Brother works well enough in its own right as a comedy of regional bias and familial enmity, and as a showcase for actor Paul Rudd.
Ned (Rudd) is amiable to a fault, so trusting of others that he sells marijuana to a uniformed police officer in the film's opening scene. When he's released on good behavior only eight months later, his trusting nature does him in again: the few people who occupied his insulated world turn him out, simply because they have become tired of him. With nowhere else to turn, he ventures to New York to live with his three sisters: career-climber Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), Brooklynite hipster Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), and strung-out housewife Liz (Emily Mortimer). Each of them have ambitions and pretenses far beyond Ned's, whose life in crunchy granola New England could be taken at face value; because of this, they are also more exhausted and duplicitous than he could ever imagine being. Despite their initial exasperation with him, they are all drawn to his complete lack of guile, and one by one, begin to confide in him. But for being a great listener, Ned is also a great talker, and unable to contain a single one of the secrets that he has been trusted with. Â
Were Rudd not such a likeable actor, Brother probably wouldn't work at all, as it defies logic on such a basic level. Why would any of his sisters trust him with such valuable information, even after he's made it clear just how immature his outlook on the world is? Granted, a good deal of this information comes to him by accident; Liz's husband (Steve Coogan) didn't mean to let Ned know that he was cheating on his wife with his documentary subject ballerina. He just didn't switch the child safety lock after telling Ned to wait in the car. Still, they let him stay in their homes, play with their children, and accompany them on career-defining jobs. In each instance, the possibility for failure is both obvious and great, but they keep on trusting him anyway. Some of this can be chalked up to familial affection, but surely not all of it.
The divide between easy-going commune life and even the least ambitious city-dweller couldn't be clearer from the get-go. This comes across from the fact that none of the sisters earn their livelihoods making candles, but also through body language and intonation; they always seem in a rush to get somewhere. But Ned carries himself easily, hardly ever (save for one climactic scene) raising his voice or even breaking into a run. That these mannerisms come together into a character so consistent and engaging is a great tribute to Rudd, who never lets Ned become irritating, as frustrating as it can be to watch him screw up his own life again and again and never get fazed. There are other stand-outs (Rashida Jones in particular, as Natalie's lawyer girlfriend), and at barely 90 minutes, the film doesn't overstay its welcome, but if Our Idiot Brother is viewed 25 years from now (as Hannah and her Sisters is), it will be as an entry in Rudd's filmography.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The single disc also contains deleted scenes, a standard 'making-of' and a commentary by director Peretz.
"Our Idiot Brother" is on sale November 29, 2011 and is rated R. Comedy. Directed by Jesse Peretz. Written by David Schisgall, Evgenia Peretz . Starring Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Steve Coogan, Zooey Deschanel.
