Our Idiot Brother (2011)
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 132
Fresh: 90 | Rotten: 42
It's decidedly uneven, but like Paul Rudd's performance in the title role, Our Idiot Brother is too charming to resist.
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 14
It's decidedly uneven, but like Paul Rudd's performance in the title role, Our Idiot Brother is too charming to resist.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 37,051
My Rating
Movie Info
Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz (Emily Mortimer), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned (Paul Rudd), an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence. Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother
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Cast
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Paul Rudd
Ned -
Elizabeth Banks
Miranda -
Zooey Deschanel
Natalie -
Emily Mortimer
Liz -
Steve Coogan
Dylan -
Hugh Dancy
Christian -
Kathryn Hahn
Janet -
Rashida Jones
Cindy -
Shirley Knight
Ilene -
T.J. Miller
Billy -
Adam Scott
Jeremy -
Janet Montgomery
Lady Arabella -
Sterling K. Brown
Omar -
Matthew Mindler
River -
Francesca Papalia
Sadie -
Bob Stephenson
Officer Washburn -
Peter Hermann
Terry -
Kelly Briter
Girl With Jeremy -
Kayla Squiteri
Echo -
Summer Squiteri
Echo -
Linda Haug
Tatiana -
Wrenn Schmidt
Beth -
Kathy Fitzgerald
Velma -
Marceline Hugot
Judy -
Alexia Rasmussen
Chloe -
-
Polly Draper
Ellen -
Neal Lerner
Darren -
Katie Aselton
Amy -
Nick Sullivan
Customer -
Gina Artese
Ballerina -
Silvestre Rasuk
Conflicted Kid on Train -
Andrew Secunda
Curious Man on Train -
Adi Hanash
Paramedic -
Camille Bright
Destiny's House Girl #1 -
Teja Frank
Destiny's House Girl #2 -
James Biberi
Guard
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Our Idiot Brother Trailer & Photos
All Critics (132) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (91) | Rotten (42) | DVD (2)
Rudd brings color and dimension to a borderline-simpleton schlub who could have easily become a one-note cliché.
Top CriticStrange, then, how Our Idiot Brother wastes its lone asset -- there's not enough idiot, and far too many boring savants.
It's rare that summer ends on as sweet a note as Our Idiot Brother.
The cast members, beginning with Rudd, have an improvisatory ease, and the director, Jesse Peretz, working from a script by Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall, doesn't indulge in the sort of nail-on-the-head comedy that currently reigns.
Even the usually likable Rudd can't do much with the enigmatic Ned, who often behaves exactly in the idiotic manner he's accused of.
Dude, where's the movie?
Our Idiot Brother is an enjoyable comedy thanks to its strong supporting cast and a terrific central performance from Paul Rudd.
Rudd can play the innocent as well as the snarky cynic, and that serves him wonderfully here.
'Cute' is probably not the word one would expect to attach to a film with this title, but there is no more apropos term for its gentle comic charm.
"Our Idiot Brother" goes down in a good way, with an infectious positivity.
Another fish-out-of-water story, 'Our Idiot Brother' never really makes a huge impact. It contains a few laughs certainly, but it's not one of the outstanding entries in this year's adult comedy genre.
Our Idiot Brother is likable enough, but you don't really need to see it.
The sometimes mediocre and rote script never falls too far in quality because of the charm of the cast.
A sweet and at times raunchy comedy, Our Idiot Brother features Paul Rudd at his likeable best in his portrayal of a liberal Jesus figure stuck in a rut.
It has its moments but, for the most part, I found it to be flat and disappointing.
Lugubrious, bumbling and sit-com predictable, Our Idiot Brother has a couple of good ideas, no style, an episodic structure and some charming incidental pleasures, not the least of which are the performances, which are good.
What I liked about the film is that there is a very good cast. I think all the women in the film are terrific actors.
Charming and at times very funny.
While no one would hail Our Idiot Brother as the most accessible movie comedy of 2011, it is definitely the one most comfortable in its skin.
Surrounded by caricatures and a bit of schmaltz, this comedy is bolstered by a charismatic lead performance from Paul Rudd.
Light and funny, Our Idiot Brother is an easy watch thanks to well-shaped, realistic characters and an entertaining story with moral fibre.
There is nothing mean about the humour nor does it rely on creating embarrassment to elicit the uncomfortable laughs.
The film has a two-tone sensibility, mixing rumpus fun with attempts at meaningful observational drama, and it's a bit simplistic, but has enough entertainment value to pass muster. Just.
Our Idiot Brother is not a gross-out comedy. Rather, it's a sensitive, soulful movie more focused on moments of human fallibility than on farting.
A pleasant-enough trifle that ensnares itself in the uneasy middle ground between indie drama and dumb-guy comedy.
The absolutely most enthusiastic thing I can say about Our Idiot Brother is that I didn't mind sitting through it.
Audience Reviews for Our Idiot Brother
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Jeremy: She's reading. A kind of novelization of Us Weekly.
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- Miranda: No, he's nobody. That's my brother, Ned.
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- Ned: I live my life a certain way. And that is, I like to think ig you put your trust out there, I mean you give people the benefit of the doubt, see their best intentions, they'll want to live up to it. It doesn't always work out, clearly, but I think that if you do people will rise to the occasion.
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- Jeremy: Just cause you're straight doesn't make you homophobic.
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- Omar: I..... am..... your..... parole..... officer.....
- Ned: Why are you talking like that?
- Omar: Oh, well I thought, since you sold grass to an officer in uniform, that you might be retarded.
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- Billy: Nothing like two dudes and a dog making candles.
- Ned: Such a cliche.
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August 24, 2011:
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August 24, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- Our Idiot Brother (DE)
- Our Idiot Brother (UK)
"Everybody has one."
Our Idiot Brother may be what you expect, but it may also be a big surprise if you go into it expecting a comedy like we're expecting to see come out today. It's not as raunchy, it's definitely not as mean as most, and it just has an overall niceness to it. A lot of this "niceness" comes from our lead, Ned, who is one of those guys that's so nice, it makes him look dumb. He's a guy so nice that he'd trust someone to hole all his cash on a subway while he cleans up a mess. He's a guy so nice that he'd sell weed to a police officer, as long as the police officer acted sad and said he had a bad week. Ned just believes that everyone is as nice and honest as he is. Too bad that's not the world that we all populate.
Ned is imprisoned early on in Our Idiot Brother for selling weed to a police officer. Once he gets out, he goes to his old place of residence; an organic farm, where he used to live with his girlfriend. Upon arriving he sees that his girlfriend has gotten a new Ned, someone just as dumb and just as nice to take Ned's place. After leaving the farm and Willy Nelson(his dog), he goes back to his family. From their he moves in with each of his three sisters at some point, complicating their lives because of his honest ways.
Along with some pretty stellar writing, a great cast makes his movie a lot of fun to watch. Paul Rudd is perfect as Ned, and his three sisters are made u of Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer. Four siblings for a comedy like Our Idiot Brother doesn't get too much better than those four. The movie also has a beautiful theme at the heart of it and it's one of those few mainstream comedies that I like because of its themes and not because of its over-the-top humor.
Our Idiot Brother is a movie worth watching, especially for fans of Paul Rudd, as this is one of his more vibrant and fun performances to date. Even if you don't end up liking the movie for whatever reason, you're still sure to enjoy the character of Ned. We've all met someone like this that throws their trust at everyone and anyone. So while this film isn't going to change your life, it's still well worth a look.