Director Jesse Peretz's tone-deaf Our Idiot Brother tells the tale of an amiable doofus who intrudes on the lives of his three bitchy sisters and ultimately redeems them through his hapless naïveté. Paul Rudd is Ned, a shaggy-haired goofball so eager to please he sells weed to a uniformed cop, earning a stint in prison for his trouble. Paroled, Ned checks in with his siblings, managing to initially ruin things for each—Liz (Emily Mortimer), a put-upon wife whose husband, Dylan (Steve Coogan), Ned unwittingly fingers as a philanderer; Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), a Vanity Fair writer whose exclusive interview with a British noblewoman Ned botches; and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), whose relationship with her lesbian roommate, Cindy (Rashida Jones), is undermined by Ned. Our Idiot Brother wants us to embrace Ned as a lovable man-child whose innocent honesty helps others in spite of themselves, but the character's overwhelming obtuseness is simply irritating. And while Banks, Deschanel, and Mortimer are all fine actresses, their characters are so self-centered and shrill that a sudden late conversion to being warm and supportive comes off as mere narrative convenience. Our Idiot Brother wants to combine hard-nosed observational comedy with genial charm, but unfortunately never really finds the right balance, ultimately feeling both forced and oddly strident. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Jesse Peretz, a “making-of” featurette (15 min.), deleted and extended scenes (9 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a lame comedy.] (F. Swietek)
Our Idiot Brother
Anchor Bay, 89 min., R, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99, Nov. 29 Volume 26, Issue 6
Our Idiot Brother
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