When working the feminist circuit you tend to hear a lot about comedy and comedic films for women. It’s a complicated idea, with its implications that women and men can’t laugh at the same things or that we need our very own special brand of period humor to relate to characters on screen. I call bullshit on both points, as I’ve been known to belly laugh at a very well written poop joke with the best of them. Still, it’s hard to deny that in film, especially comedies, the women’s role is often as object of desire and not much else. Our Idiot Brother, however, seems to get it right.
The film centers on idealistic to a fault Ned, (Paul Rudd) who, out of the goodness of his own heart, sells marijuana to a uniformed policeman and ends up on parole and homeless. This leads him back into the lives of his three sisters, married with children Liz (Emily Mortimer), career centric Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and free loving Natalie (Zooey Deschanel). He enters each of their homes respectively, only to innocently wreak havoc on all their lives, hilarity soon to follow. Our Idiot Brother is more than easy laughs, though. It’s a feel good movie at its best, placing in its main character a blind optimism and naivety that is endearing.
It’s the casting that really makes the film work. Not only is Rudd excellent in playing what could be considered an extremity of the good guy role he usually partakes, but I love the range we get in actresses here, as well. Moritmer, Banks and Deschanel have different background in film, for sure, but this only work to emphasize their difference in character. They’re also as honest as Hollywood has ever gotten to representations of real women in different stages in life. Even Rashida Jones, who plays girlfriend to Deschanel, is desexualized, giving us an honest portrayal of a lesbian relationship. They manage all this and are fucking funny to boot. Our Idiot Brother provides roles for women that aren’t love interests; it’s a nice change of pace.
Our Idiot Brother is playing in US and UK theaters now.