Our Idiot Brother - 3 smiles

“Our Idiot Brother,” starring a very likable Paul Rudd, is charming, optimistic and funny, a rare mix in an end-of-summer movie. Plus it’s just quirky enough to be enjoyable without being annoying. Paul Rudd is Ned, a laid-back organic farmer and idealist who’s so trusting he sells pot to a cop while the cop is in uniform. After he gets out of jail, Ned discovers that his nasty/hippie girlfriend (Kathryn Hahn) has replaced him with another space cadet, Billy (T.J. Miller) and, to add insult to injury, she won’t let Ned have is dog, Willie Nelson, back. Ned returns to New York, where he takes turns living with his three sisters, Liz (Emily Mortimer), married with children to egocentric Dylan (Steve Coogan); ambitious Miranda (Elizabeth Banks); and ditzy Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), who is partnered with lawyer Cindy (Rashida Jones).

“Our Idiot Brother, written by Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall and directed by Jesse Peretz, is refreshingly unpredictable. Initially, Ned disrupts everyone’s lives with both alarming candor and social cluelessness. Yet in the end it turns out everyone would be better off if they were just a bit more like Ned. But none of this works if you don’t buy Ned’s mix of naïveté and goofiness and Paul Rudd walks a fine line in bringing him to life. Ned has to be nice, but not a fool. Sweet, but not saccharine. Honest enough to cause trouble, but always with the best intentions. Not only doesn’t Ned lie, but he also never knows when he has been lied to. While there might be some awkward transitions and some implausible events, “Our Idiot Brother” is such a likable movie that you really won’t mind. 9/1/11