Our Idiot Brother

Name: Our Idiot Brother
Genre: Comedy
Released: August 26, 2011
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 60

2011

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Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 106 Ratings

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6.4

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6.4	Your Score
6.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 106 Ratings

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OUR IDIOT BROTHER

Movie Details & Credits

Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: August 26, 2011

Summary: Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz, Miranda and Natalie, that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned, an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy,Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz, Miranda and Natalie, that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned, an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence. Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother and so, after his girlfriend dumps him and boots him off the farm, his sisters once again come to his rescue. As Liz, Miranda and Natalie each take a turn at housing Ned, their brother's unfailing commitment to honesty creates more than a few messes in their comfortable routines. But as each of their lives begins to unravel, Ned’s family comes to realize that maybe, in believing and trusting the people around him; Ned isn’t such an idiot after all. (The Weinstein Company)… Expand

Director: Jesse Peretz

Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 90 min

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Critic Reviews

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Calvin Wilson

Aug 25, 2011

Our Idiot Brother is smart entertainment. Read full review

Chicago Tribune - Michael Phillips

Aug 25, 2011

It's sweet, and low-key. It's very '70s in its vibe, which helps when the script veers in and out of formula. Read full review

Christian Science Monitor - Peter Rainer

Aug 26, 2011

Too often ambles into inconsequentiality. And, predictably, Ned becomes a kind of family savior – the idiot becomes the sage. It's Frank Capra for dummies. Read full review

Boxoffice Magazine - Pam Grady

Aug 15, 2011

This is Rudd's movie and he once more displays an unerring eye for comedy. He comes at it from an actor's perspective rather than a comedian's and it shows as his character as hilarious as he is credible. Read full review

Chicago Reader - J.R. Jones

Aug 25, 2011

Like Nicole Holofcener's "Please Give" (2010), this turns on the friction between an unusually altruistic character and the self-centered people around him, though screenwriters David Schisgall and Evgenia Peretz never pursue their premise into the sort of moral comedy that so distinguished the other movie. Read full review

The A.V. Club - Nathan Rabin

Aug 24, 2011

Rudd ably carries the film while retaining a light touch, though even with Rudd in the lead, it's still a featherweight trifle, an afternoon nap of a feel-good comedy. Read full review

Miami Herald - Rene Rodriguez

Aug 26, 2011

The talented actors are game, but they are done in by the shallow nature of their characters, none of whom behaves in a manner remotely resembling real life (they don't really seem to be related, either). Read full review

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User Reviews

Shiira

Oct 2, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Elizabeth and her sisters think that Ned is an idiot. Only their half-employed hippie brother, a biodynamic farmer, would sell marijuana to a policeman. Worse yet, this bust was no undercover sting in which a plain clothes cop posed as some chronic in order to entrap the unsuspecting seller. Uniformed and on-duty, Ned could plainly see it was a cop, and yet he still made the unwise transaction, in broad daylight, no less, with a little rhubarb on the side for appearance's sake. The Rochlin girls don't suffer fools gladly, so the moviegoer can imagine Ned's sisters regaling themselves with the same story, while their brother grew a Jesus beard during his eight-month sentence in prison. But you had to be there, and you have to know the son of God, whose job it was to heal the sick, so Ned, Jesus incarnate, seeing that the law officer needed Mary Jane for his weary soul, offered the man her services, then pays the price. Ned is a christ figure. While crashing with Liz, in his capacity as the cool uncle, he introduces Inspector Clouseau, the idiot detective, to her sheltered boy River by showing him "The Pink Panther". The Peter Sellers film establishes a subtext, but it's not the bumbling Frenchman's genetic code that courses through Ned's blood, since slapstick, with the exception of the familial freeloader slamming the door on his nephew's fingers, is not the comedy tradition at work here; it's satire, of the deadpan variety, as Paul Rudd channels the mentally retarded gardener from "Being There", where at the end of the 1979 classic, Chauncey Gardiner walks on water, like Jesus. This miracle explains why the man who raised Chauncey never allowed him to leave the premises. Maybe the government would lock his boy up; a government that would resist ceding their power back to the church, transforming the country back into a theocracy. In the seventies, there was still such a thing as separation from church and state. Apparently, Ashby saw the future. "I like to watch," Chauncey says, who spends his whole life in front of a T.V., just as earth must be one big program to god, a couch potato himself, in the sense that all he does is observe the human struggle with the same indifference as the idiot gardener. Whereas "Network" anticipated FOX news, "Being There", anticipated the rise of the evangelical president. The two films complete each other. In the final scene, after taking leave from his rich friend's funeral, Chauncey wanders through the woods, faintly recalling former President George W. Bush on his ranch. Back at the service, the gardener's name is bandied about among the pallbearers as a potential presidential candidate; pallbearers who seem to hold the real power. The aging men need Chauncey because they lack his charisma and don't look good on television. Ben, a conservative ideologue, perhaps, knew all along that Chauncey was an idiot, and knew he would make the perfect chief executive puppet for his people to pull the strings on, and be at their beck and call. Maybe Ned had the makings of a president, but like Harold(Sellers, again), in "I Love You Alice B. Toklas", some hippie chick(maybe it was that dognapper Janet) baked him some pot brownies and transformed him into a bohemian. Like Chauncey, whose ruminations on the garden turns the general public into idiots, misconstruing his every prosaic utterance as minimalist wisdom, Ned also has the talent of making imbeciles out of folks by simply being there. While all the Wall Street devils who were selling false dreams to a duped nation got off scot free, a cop sends an immaculate agriculturist to prison. Jesus Christ, indeed. Later, as a favor to his wife, the documentary filmmaker husband lets Ned assist him, and on one of Dylan's shoots, a ballet academy, he catches both the director and dancer in various states of undress. When he recounts the incident to Miranda, the middle sister can't beleive how her brother fell for the adulterer's story about his nakedness being part of an artistic process. But as a christ figure, Ned wouldn't consider nudity a sin. Genesis teaches us that Eve wasn't conscious of her exposed body until she took a bite from the serpent's apple, so Tatiana, with her ballerina's reputation for eating very little, would explain why Ned saw nothing wrong with the set-up. Metaphorically, the apple went untouched. Ned knows his commandments though, punishing Natalie for breaking number 7("You shall not commit adultery") when she cheats on Cindy, and then punishing Miranda for breaking number 9("You shall not steal"), after the Vanity Fair writer takes the words from a socialite to use in her article, which were only meant for Ned's ears. The idiot brother also creates miracles; he doesn't walk on water, but how can you explain a dog named Willie Nelson meeting another dog name Dolly Parton? That's more than mere happenstance; that's a divine act.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

Alambna

Dec 16, 2011

I loved this movie! It's shocking to see that "Friends with Benefits" scores higher than this movie on metacritic! That just doesn't make any sense to me. Our Idiot Brother is a charming comedy with a solid ensemble cast. The cast is so great together that I just wish more had happened inI loved this movie! It's shocking to see that "Friends with Benefits" scores higher than this movie on metacritic! That just doesn't make any sense to me. Our Idiot Brother is a charming comedy with a solid ensemble cast. The cast is so great together that I just wish more had happened in the movie... But anyway, for what it was I loved it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Trev29

Jun 22, 2013

A pleasant film that provides balanced comedy and heart. Fascinating and likable characters played by talented actors worked well for this film. It was strange, but quite enjoyable.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Aug 31, 2011

Paul Rudd is one of current cinema's most charming and affable personalities, so this role is perfect for him (his comic abilities are a bonus). He plays trusting guy whose unfailing honesty gets him and people around him into trouble. After a stint in jail, he moves in with each of hisPaul Rudd is one of current cinema's most charming and affable personalities, so this role is perfect for him (his comic abilities are a bonus). He plays trusting guy whose unfailing honesty gets him and people around him into trouble. After a stint in jail, he moves in with each of his three sisters (Elizabeth Banks, Emily Morton, Zooey Deschanel), where he wrecks havoc on their lives and relationships. This good-natured comedy isn't hilarious or outrageous, but it's winning cast and genuine charms make it an appealing diversion.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MarcDoyle

Aug 27, 2011

It's a fun movie with plenty of laughs - Rudd doesn't cross the line into annoying. He's a good foil from which to call his sisters' faults into focus, and they are all terrific. Coogan is hilarious as the jerk husband. And Ned's ex-girlfriend and her BF are awesome. So go in with modestIt's a fun movie with plenty of laughs - Rudd doesn't cross the line into annoying. He's a good foil from which to call his sisters' faults into focus, and they are all terrific. Coogan is hilarious as the jerk husband. And Ned's ex-girlfriend and her BF are awesome. So go in with modest expectations and you'll enjoy this.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

jredekop

Dec 29, 2011

Our Idiot Brother is a good-hearted movie, with a great cast. After a while though, you just start wishing it would go somewhere, or at least a little deeper. It's totally enjoyable- Ned is so lovable and so familiar you can just feel him throughout the movie. The whole cast is so familiarOur Idiot Brother is a good-hearted movie, with a great cast. After a while though, you just start wishing it would go somewhere, or at least a little deeper. It's totally enjoyable- Ned is so lovable and so familiar you can just feel him throughout the movie. The whole cast is so familiar that you can just feel like it's your own family battle going on. But halfway through the movie, I was able to see how the general events would fold out, and there didn't really turn out to be too many surprises along the way. While the writing was great and the casting was fantastic, there was a lack of depth to the story that left me feeling really disappointed.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Iggyfuzz

Nov 10, 2011

This movie just promised a lot, and not even the wonderful cast could save it. The story was weak: Ned, the main character does not change, evolve or learn anything of value. Paul Rudd plays it cool but he is no Duderino. He is presented as this hipster messiah come to save us from our vainThis movie just promised a lot, and not even the wonderful cast could save it. The story was weak: Ned, the main character does not change, evolve or learn anything of value. Paul Rudd plays it cool but he is no Duderino. He is presented as this hipster messiah come to save us from our vain lives and teach us humility by doing... nothing. The sad truth is that hippies are as prompt to be shallow, egotistical liers as anyone else from this planet. Being lazy and aimless does not make you an honest, kind or caring person. The joke is lost because the film never manages to laugh at itself and is not nearly as illuminating as it pretends to be.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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