Our Idiot Brother

This is not a great Paul Rudd movie, like Wet Hot American Summer or Role Models. It’s a good movie that probably would’ve sucked had Paul Rudd not signed on for it and brought his particular brand of brilliance to the proceedings. Rudd shines as stoner-simpleton Ned, briefly imprisoned at the beginning of the film for selling pot to a uniformed police officer. Rudd’s naïve charm in the first few minutes alone makes the movie worth seeing. When Ned goes to live with his sisters, played by Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer, the movie loses a little steam, but Rudd always manages to make it snap back to life with his charms. T.J. Miller steals scenes as Billy, the equally stoned biodynamic farmer who shacks up with Ned’s girlfriend (the talented Kathryn Hahn, as funny here as she was in Step Brothers) while he’s in prison. He’s Ned’s naiveté times 10, and there’s nothing he says in this movie that isn’t funny.