Our Idiot Brother
Given my obsession with Zooey Deschanel, checking out Our Idiot Brother was obviously a requirement for me, even if it took an extra week. But Zooey aside, the cast for the movie is pretty stacked. And for the most part, that’s what the movie became to me, a showcase of actors and actresses that I enjoy.
Our Idiot Brother isn’t a strong movie in any real sense, but Paul Rudd makes it work in the way that he pulls most things off. The story is just average and doesn’t really progress along too much. It feels as though it’s trying to tell a little too much at once. While most of the film tries to focus on the relationship between Paul Rudd’s character and his three sisters, a lot of time is still spent developing the individual lives of all four characters before everything can really culminate in Rudd ruining each of his sister’s lives–or rather exposing how they’ve ruined their own lives. Because of the three sisters, each of with coming with a male (female in Zooey’s case) counterpart, there was a lot of Rudd to spread around. Three may work well in theory, but I felt as though there were too many relationships to build.
Like I said, the movie itself is mostly average, but I walked away from Our Idiot Brother with a few other thoughts:
- Zooey Deschanel and Rashida Jones as a lesbian couple is almost too much to handle.
- I’ve said it a thousand times before, but Steve Coogan needs to be in a million more things. Everything, really.
- I’m really glad Adam Scott is on Parks and Recreation now and I’d also like to see him in a million more things.
- Elizabeth Banks looks even better with as a brunette than she does as a blonde.
Despite having a thousand relationships to build out, if you need a few laughs and are interested in any of the things I’ve just mentioned, Our Idiot Brother could be well worth the cost of an AM cinema ticket on a rainy weekend morning.
Rating: B-
