Movie Review: Our Idiot Brother

First off, this movie officially wins the award for casting.  There are so many hilarious, hugely underrated people in this film, and the ensemble is what carries an at-times flat plot.  Paul Rudd leads the way as Ned, the idiot brother to whom the title refers, and Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, and Elizabeth Banks play his neurotic and self-involved sisters, each of whom has her own drama to deal with.  Rashida Jones and Adam Scott make distractingly impressive appearances as Deschanel and Banks' romantic interests, respectively.  Seriously, if the film had focused on those two couples and had Rudd's character as a background player, it would have been an equally good (perhaps even better) film.

I think what I struggled with was the fact that the film does focus so much on Ned, who becomes a bit wearing and repetitive as you watch.  His character doesn't really change or transition, the point of the story is that he more or less stays the same while everyone else kind of comes to realize how much they like him the way he is.  And maybe that's a bit more true to life, but the lack of character development is a little frustrating.

Add to that the fact that a few smaller things are neglected in favor of focusing on Ned.  The first of these is the character of Ned's mother, who despite the drama fest of the three sisters, is the most depressing character in the film.  She just seems sad most of the time, and there are several shots of her drinking alone, though nothing about her or her state of mind is ever referenced.  I'm going to hope this is something that simply got trimmed down during edits and not blatant neglect on the part of the writers.  Additionally, as I've alluded, I was far more interested in the many subplots than in what was actually going on with Ned, to the point where I was anxiously awaiting the moments when they would return to them.  Both Deschanel and Banks' stories felt like they had more aborted conclusions than they deserved, and in favor of an ending for Ned that was somewhat anti-climactic. 

I guess I liked this film less than I thought, at least from a craft standpoint.  It really is very funny, and Ned is interesting to watch before the other stories pick up momentum, and even then it could certainly be worse.  This is a fun movie that will leave you wanting more, and if you're a person who is content with filling in the blanks in your head, then it should be perfectly enjoyable.