movie reviews Reviews Great Movies Answer Man People Commentary Festivals Oscars Glossary One-Minute Reviews Letters Roger Ebert's Journal Scanners Store News Sports Business Entertainment Classifieds Columnists search OUR IDIOT BROTHER (R) Ebert: Users: You: Rate this movie right now GO Search powered by YAHOO! register You are not logged in. Log in » Subscribe to weekly newsletter » times & tickets in theaters Dolphin Tale Fandango Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame Search movie Killer Elite showtimes and buy Our Idiot Brother Love Crime tickets. Moneyball BY ROGER EBERT / August 24, 2011 Restless Resurrect Dead: Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles about us This movie is so nice. Its more current releases » hero is so sweet. His sisters cast & credits About the site » consider him such an idiot. one-minute movie reviews His sisters are so correct. Site FAQs » He's an idiot in the sense Ned Paul Rudd that he doesn't lie or cheat. Miranda Elizabeth Banks still playing Contact us » He doesn't calculate the Natalie Zooey Deschanel odds on getting away with Liz Emily Mortimer Dolphin Tale Email the Movie things. He trusts people. He Amigo Answer Man » Janet Kathryn Hahn always tells the truth. Dylan Steve Coogan Another Earth Attack the Block Wasn't there a study Cindy Rashida Jones Bellflower on sale now proving that human society Christian Hugh Dancy would collapse if we didn't A Better Life Ilene Shirley Knight lie? Blank City Jeremy Adam Scott Bride Flight Ned (Paul Rudd) is sort of a Brighton Rock saint. He has a beatific The Weinstein Co. presents a film Captain America: The First Avenger The Change-Up smile, wishes you the best directed by Jesse Peretz. Written by Chasing Madoff Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall. and doesn't hold grudges. Circumstance He also doesn't hold jobs Running time: 96 minutes. Rated R Conan the Barbarian very well. He reminds me a (for sexual content including Contagion little of Harold Skimpole, the nudity, and for language Cowboys & Aliens Buy now » Dickens character who throughout). Crazy, Stupid, Love never grasped how money The Debt worked, or why it mattered Printer-friendly » Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame if he didn't have any. When E-mail this to a friend » The Devil's Double we meet Ned, he's selling Don't Be Afraid of the Dark organic vegetables at a Drive farmer's market, with a little Final Destination 5 sideline in under-the- 5 Days of War Friends with Benefits counter weed. And when a uniformed cop says he's having a bad day Fright Night and wonders if he might have something to sell him, he slips him a Buy now » The Future $20 bag with his rhubarb. A uniformed cop. A Good Old-Fashioned Orgy The Guard After getting busted, Ned is released from prison early (he was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 named a model prisoner four months in a row). He returns to the farm The Hedgehog he worked with his girlfriend (Kathryn Hahn), discovers she has a The Help new boyfriend, and just about apologizes to the guy for turning up Higher Ground unexpectedly. Deprived of his home, he begins to depend on the Horrible Bosses hospitality of his three sisters, who in their three ways are three The Interrupters pieces of work. Killer Elite Larry Crowne Buy now » This movie wouldn't work without Paul Rudd. He walks such a fine Life, Above All A Little Help line. He has to be nice, but not a fool. Sweet, but not saccharine. littlerock Honest enough to cause trouble, but always innocently. Not only A Love Affair of Sorts doesn't he lie, he never knows when he has been lied to. When the Love Crime genes were being shaken up in his family tree, all of the kind ones The Man Who Fell to Earth must have fallen into his pool. Moneyball Monte Carlo The movie circles with Mozart's Sister nimble wit through an A-list Mysteries of Lisbon Buy now » of supporting characters. The Names of Love Ned's sisters are Liz (Emily One Day Mortimer), a doting mom One Lucky Elephant married to a filmmaker Our Idiot Brother (Steve Coogan); Miranda Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times (Elizabeth Banks), an Phunny Business: A Black Comedy ambitious writer who hopes Point Blank Project Nim to work for Vanity Fair Rapt magazine, and Natalie The sisters: Emily Mortimer, Restless Buy now » (Zooey Deschanel), who Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel. Resurrect Dead: Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles may be a lesbian and is Rise of the Planet of the Apes certainly in love with Cindy (Enlarge Image) Road to Nowhere (Rashida Jones). Their The Robber mother is Ilene, played by the legendary Shirley Knight, who is one of Sarah's Key those rare all-day wine drinkers who can stay topped up and never Senna get hammered. It goes without saying, I suppose, that the Steve Seven Days in Utopia Coogan character is a bit of a rat; his characters usually are. But Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness Cindy the lesbian is free of all the tiresome cliches about lesbians in Sleep Furiously comedies, and daringly plots with Ned to regain ownership of Willie Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Buy now » Nelson, his beloved dog. Straw Dogs Tabloid Terri I know someone just like Ned. She is a woman. She has an uncanny 30 Minutes or Less gift for making a statement, looking puzzled when a hush falls upon Transformers: Dark of the Moon the room, and saying, "Uh-oh. I thought everyone knew that." In The Undefeated Ned's case, his startling honesties seem to be blessed. He seems to Viva Riva! cause harm and dismay, but in the workings of the screenplay, he Warrior usually ends up doing good, however accidentally. The Whistleblower Winnie the Pooh Buy now» It's refreshing, this late in the summer, to find a hot weather comedy Zookeeper that doesn't hate its characters and embed them in scatology and more current releases » sexual impossibilities. "Our Idiot Brother," directed by Jesse Peretz and written by Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall, is as good- hearted as its hero. I've seen Paul Rudd in a lot of movies, but have on dvd never realized he could be as lovable as Amy Adams or Mary Steenburgen. Jesse and Evgenia Peretz are the children of Martin new on dvd Peretz, the editor-in-chief emeritus of the New Republic, and the other day, my friend Margo Howard was tweeting that she's known the Peretz kids since they were born, "and going back years, he more new on dvd » Buy now» always did used to sit on her!" Twitter doesn't encourage detailed elaboration. coming on dvd The film ends with a series of unlikely happy endings that I might ordinarily object to. But since one outcome produces an iron-clad more coming on dvd » reason why the dog must be named Willie Nelson, all is forgiven. great movies on dvd more great movies on dvd » Buy now» Watch Free Movies Online Watch Free Movies Online - It's Easy With Movie.alot.com Roxio CinePlayer Play DVDs on your PC Today! www.Roxio.com Watch TV Free On Your PC Watch 3,000+ Channels On Your PC, www.StopPayingCableBills.com DVD Players - Sale Prices Save Big on Top DVD Players. Toshiba, www.Calibex.com/DVD-Player Ads by Yahoo! © copyright 2011, rogerebert.com Privacy Policy Terms of Use Submission Guidelines .