Wisdom of a Fool

Movies: Our Idiot Brother

Our Idiot Brother, starring lovable Paul Rudd as the titular lovable idiot, is such a breath of fresh air after a summer of mean comedies. By no means perfect, the film and its laid-back attitude seem miles away from misanthropic, trying-too-hard yuks in movies like Horrible Bosses and The Change-Up (full disclouse: I did not see The Change-Up, but I feel no qualms about judging it anyway).


Paul Rudd plays Ned, who is labeled by the film as an idiot because he is overly trusting and not cynical enough towards humankind, as evidenced in the first scene where he sells pot to a uniformed cop. 8 months later, Ned is let out of prison early for good behavior, only to find that his hippie girlfriend is shacking up with a new man on the communal farm that used to be Ned's home. She kicks Ned out of the commune and, to add insult to injury, claims possession of Ned's beloved Golden Retriever, Willie Nelson.

Now that Ned is homeless and penniless, he takes turns living with members of his family--first his passive-aggressive, might-be-an-alcoholic mom; then his depressed sister Liz (Emily Mortimer) who is married to a grade-A asshole (Steve Coogan) and their young son; next his bitchy, bossy, career-driven sister Miranda (Elizabeth Banks); and finally his bohemian, lesbian, might-actually-be-bisexual sister Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) and her frickin' awesome girlfriend Cindy (Rashida Jones). Got all that?

Wherever Ned goes, it seems that chaos follows. However, it becomes clear that Ned does not create this chaos, but merely inconveniently brings it to light--such as when he catches Liz's husband in a (very) compromising position with another woman, and explains what he saw to another sister who then brings it up to Liz. Liz is so angry at the situation, that she immediately blames Ned. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the real idiots are Ned's sisters who lie, deceive themselves, and fail to take other people into consideration--and thus end up hurting themselves and others. Ned's only failure is that he is too good for this world.

I read a review of this movie that labeled Paul Rudd as cinema's first Manic Pixie Dream Boy, in that he is a magically quirky character whose job it is to encourage other people to be better, or to bring meaning to others' lives. I think there might be something to this. Although Ned certainly has interesting qualities, he serves less as a well-rounded character with a distinct arc than as an agent of change for the other characters. It would have been nice to see some of Ned's truly bad qualities. Although his foolishness and gullibility are apparent, Ned is fundamentally a good person. We never see any darkness or resentment--even when Ned blows up in anger at his family. Our Idiot Brother was a very fun, entertaining film, but I think it would have been better if Ned was allowed to be a bit more human and bit less of a magical hippie earth sprite.

Overall, Our Idiot Brother lives up to its intended purpose. It's a funny, light-hearted, end of summer comedy that has a better attitude (and funnier script) than many other similar comedies. Like Ned, it may not be the deepest movie, but it has a good heart.

4 out of 5 stars.