Our Idiot Brother

Director:  Jesse Peretz
Cast: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Steve Coogan and Emily Mortimer
Releasing in cinemas: 3 November 2011
Rated: M

You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your relatives, so the old saying goes. But the lack of choice over family members has often provided fertile material for filmmakers. So it is with Our Idiot Brother, a gentle but perceptive comedy about the value of family and the perils of modern life.

The brother of the title is Ned, played by Paul Rudd. He’s not exactly an idiot - more of an innocent in a world that takes advantage of innocents. That emerges pretty clearly in the opening scene, when the naive Ned sells some pot to a uniformed police officer. Sent for several months in jail, Ned returns to find he’s been ejected by his former girlfriend Janet (Kathryn Hahn) from the organic farm where they were living. Janet has taken up with the equally (if not more) dim-witted Billy (T.J. Miller); but far worse, she’s decided she is going to keep Ned’s beloved dog, Willie Nelson.

Alone and adrift, Ned turns to his three sisters for help. They however all have busy lives of their own. Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) is a tightly-wound journalist on constant deadlines; Liz (Emily Mortimer) is a mum with two little kids; and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) is a struggling comedian who moonlights at a range of odd jobs. Ned’s appearance on their respective doorsteps throws each of their households into some form of chaos or other. But is it Ned’s fault, or does his presence merely expose or amplify other failings in their lives?

Director Jesse Peretz, whose experience is mainly in television, keeps the film humming along. There’s barely a dull moment as Ned cuts a swathe through his family and their friends. The script - by the director’s sister Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall - provides plenty of wry observation. It’s also very funny, but in an understated way. Belly laughs are few, but you’ll find yourself smiling without even knowing it.

Despite a rather predictable ending, the film is also something of a satire on modern living. Peretz and his screenwriters equally skewer the corporate rat-race, inner-city bohemian living, suburban desperation and the hippie-herbal lifestyle. None of this is done in a particularly mean way; more an attempt to highlight that no single lifestyle can be considered perfect.

What makes this film though is the fantastic cast. Paul Rudd (Role Models) is perfect as the gormless Ned. I suspect there may be an element of the Dude (fans of The Big Lebowski will relate) in his performance, but that doesn’t make it any less appealing. Elizabeth Banks (W.), Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) and Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island) are equally at home as the sisters who struggle to adjust to the changes wrought on their lives.

However, there are many delights in the supporting cast too. Steve Coogan (In the Loop) is brilliant as Dylan, Liz’s smarmy husband; Rashida Jones (The Social Network) has some nice moments as Natalie’s lawyer girlfriend; Kathryn Hahn (Step Brothers) is very sharp as one of the meanest hippies you’re ever likely to meet; and T.J. Miller (Get Him to the Greek) is hilarious as Billy.

All this adds up to a very pleasant movie experience. Our Idiot Brother won’t blow you out of your seat, but it will give you some giggles, and might even get you thinking about your life and how you live it.

David Edwards