▲ Official movie poster. Provided by the official site, www.prainmovies.com/oib

Ned Rochlin (Paul Rudd), of the independent comedy, Our Idiot Brother is a hopelessly pathetic character due to his frank and kind nature. People easily ignore and look down on him, pointing fingers at him for all problems that occur around them. However, is Ned really the idiot? Perhaps, Ned is the only true and genuine person that we lack in today’s society. 

This film Our Idiot Brother, directed by Jesse Peretz and starring Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer was first premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Praised for its light and breezy feel-good comedy, Our Idiot Brother was given wide release on actual screens on 26 August, 2011. However, to the question of whether this movie deserves to be put on the big screens makes one give a second thought. What more is there to this movie besides the cheap laughs it provides and the so-called “meaningful” lessons it teaches, both of which are actually nothing more than a cliché?

Although this film is an independent film made on a shoe-string budget, the featured cast is Hollywood hotshots, which at least makes the movie quite worth watching. It is not even an exaggeration to say that the movie is largely dependent on the actors, who sell the whole thing wonderfully despite the thinness of the material. Paul Rudd, who plays the protagonist, Ned, is particularly worth noticing. Rudd fits perfectly in the suit of Ned as if they share the same identity. His warm and relaxed aura explains why this established comedy star seems so right for this film and character. Another reason is because Jesse Peretz, the director and Rudd’s good friend, created the character of Ned based on Rudd’s dependably funny image in real life.

To further talk about the character of Ned himself, he is like an innocent child who is hard for one to detest, despite his faults. His motto in life is that you should always trust others and be open, even if they might think you are foolish and try to take advantage of you. In Ned’s case, his motto eventually sends him to jail on a charge of dealing drugs after he innocently does a police officer a favor. Even when he returns and sees his girlfriend living with another man, he cannot or does not say anything. Having no other place to settle, Ned visits his three sisters, making their already-messy lives even messier.

   
▲ Stills from Our Idiot Brother Provided by the offical site, www.prainmovies.com/oib

The messy lives and twisted personalities of the three sisters were intentionally made unappealing, as the screenwriters Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall wanted to emphasize Ned’s innocent goodness by a complete contrast. The oldest sister, Emily Mortimer, plays a melancholy housewife married to a documentarian who cheats behind her back; Elizabeth Banks plays a ruthless Vanity Fair reporter with twisted friendships; and Zooey Deschanel takes the role of a self-interested lesbian having two-timed her committed girlfriend with a guy.

By the appearance of the three sisters, the audience might feel a sense of guilt and unease. This is because we see ourselves featured in the movie in the form of Ned’s sisters who seem or pretend to be happy on the outside, but are actually fooling themselves and everyone else. In our lives, at one point, our values come to be focused on how the world sees us, making us wear a mask that is not our own. Thus, when things go wrong, it is hard for us to admit it as our fault, leading us to blame others who are seemingly easy to win over.

This seems to be the message Peretz wants the audience to feel throughout the film. He attempts to criticize our twisted mindset, which makes us mark Ned as an idiot. In order to take away our contorted viewpoint and impose in Ned’s pure and genuine worldview on to us, Peretz intentionally sets the overall color of the film as clean and purifying. Such colors are especially used at the beginning of the film, which highlights Ned’s excessively peaceful life. The film begins with a scene of Ned selling the fruits and vegetables which he himself grew at his farm at the Farmer’s Market. The vivid colors of green, orange, and red naturally attract and please our eyes as they give off the peaceful atmosphere of an idyllic lifestyle. Even as the plot thickens and becomes dynamic with happenings such as Ned going to jail, the aesthetics of the film still remains pleasing to our eyes and relaxing to our minds. Hence, despite the serious situations the characters find themselves in, Peretz tries his best to allow us, as the audience, to simply sit back and let out a casual laugh.

   
▲ Stills from Our Idiot Brother Provided by the offical site, www.prainmovies.com/oib

Yes, as mentioned above, there are times when Our Idiot Brother conveys an acknowledgeable message with its genuinely sweet characters; but it lacks conviction. There is literally nothing surprising about the movie within its plot; you can practically picture the ending as the story unfolds. Neither does the movie have a biting, socio-political undertone, which seems to become the reason we forget the movie’s intended message only after thirty minutes after stepping out from the theater.

If one watches Our Idiot Brother expecting to be taken somewhere new, it will be nothing more than mere disappointment. If such is not the case, the movie itself with its familiarity of plot and its message actually becomes its saving grace, making it pleasant to watch. In fact, the movie never really sought to be a blockbuster. The personal goal of Peretz in making this independent film was just to make us think of our family and put on a smile by the end of the day. All he wished to say is that family is a community not based on calculation or selfish motives, but on unconditional love and interest. Sometimes you may have different values, beliefs, or personalities, but at the end of the day you all love each other. This is the lesson that Peretz gives through Ned and his family—something we take for granted, but is the most important. Although the movie does not seem to be capable of surprising its audience as it hits the screen, within its warm and petty message, especially in our desolate, cold reality, the film itself is worth noticing.

 

Film Information

Release Date August 26, 2011 (in the U.S.)

Directed by Jesse Peretz

Starring Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer

Duration 90 min.

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