2011 gave us some memorable comedies and one you don’t want to miss is Our Idiot Brother. Paul Rudd’s delightfully believable and funny off kilter performance drives this under seen tale of family dysfunction, man’s best friend, and an ingratiating simpleton. It’s another new DVD release you can pick up at your Roanoke Valley Public Library, including the new flagship ship branch across from Penn Forrest Elementary.
This movie could more accurately be titled Our Overly Trusting Brother Who Drives us Batty but We Could Stand to be More Like. So he goes to jail for selling marijuana to a uniformed police officer? That’s because he takes people at their word and wanted to help a guy unwind. So he tries a threesome with another man and a woman? That’s because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Rudd’s Ned Rochlin is just an easy going guy who wants his dog back from his girlfriend who recently dumped him (Kathryn Hahn). Oh yeah, he also needs a place to live. His three sisters, wonderfully played by the eclectic cast of Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer, each begrudgingly open their homes to him and he soon discovers they are worse off than he is.
Rudd never plays Ned as an idiot but simply as uncomplicated. His simplicity and wholesome belief in other people’s goodness grant him a sage-like wisdom to those who don’t know him, putting him somewhere between Forrest Gump and Chance, Peter Seller’s character in Being There.
Another surprise performance comes from Steve Coogan. The often outrageous English comic actor honestly portrays Ned’s despicable philandering brother-in-law Dylan without his familiar goofiness. He’s just one of many surprises in this offbeat little comedy that is well worth a look.
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