My Idiot Brother : Movie Review


Our Idiot Brother is a happy underachiever of a comedy; it's a movie with decent (if not blinding) star power, built around strong efforts from dependably funny people, and an excellent performance by Paul Rudd as the lead. The catch is that there is literally nothing surprising about the movie plot-wise; you can practically call the story as it's unfolding on the fly. It doesn't have the socio-political undertones of 30 Minutes or Less, and it isn't as inherently wicked as Horrible Bosses, but then again it's clearly not trying to be. The surprises are more in the light tone of the performances, the high professionalism of director Jesse Peretz and his cast, who obviously took the whole thing seriously enough to put in a hard effort to make it funny. If the film had any aspirations beyond that it would be easy to pan, but at the end of the day, it's hard to hate something that only wants to make you smile.

And despite a nondescript beginning, you will smile, largely thanks to Rudd's out-of-nowhere explosion as a lead man. Which, really, is ironic, since Rudd (the go-to guy for playing utterly and comfortably unremarkable thirtysomethings) is usually at his best when he's in a supporting role in an ensemble (Anchorman, Knocked Up), or has flashier foil to play off of (I Love You, Man), but he's front and center in Our Idiot Brother, playing both the wacky wild card and the straight man to a group of characters who, unsurprisingly, are revealed to be even dumber than he is.

See www.filmcritic.com for full review

Author : Anthony Benigno