Sundance 2011 Review: MY IDIOT BROTHER is a Hilarious Comedy of Greatness

Now here’s a movie I’m excited to tell you about! I wasn’t really sure what to expect from My Idiot Brother before I saw it, there was a lot of hype building up for it, and I thought it was awesome, and I think it lived up to the hype I was hearing. It’s safe to say that this is my favorite film that I’ve seen up at The Sundance Film Festival so far. It was a great indie comedy that had me laughing throughout the film. It was a brilliantly cool comedy of greatness.

Paul Rudd stars in the film, and plays a man named Ned, whose character is set up extremely well in the first scene of the movie. This opening scene set up the whole tone of the film, I don’t want to go into details and tell you what happens because I want to leave it as a surprise for you. But, it shows you the type of person that Ned is; a very trusting individual that wants to see the best intentions of people. Lets just say Ned falls into a trap, and his big heart gets him into some trouble with the law and he ends up in jail. After being in Jail for eight months Ned is released into the world again to find that his girlfriend of three years dumped him for another dude. So without a place to go he ends up spending a lot of time with his sisters and actually lives with each of them throughout the movie. As the story is told his good natured naive honesty ends up highlighting his sisters personal faults and problems, and they end up hating him for it; blaming him for all the problems that now plague their lives. Of course through a series of hilarious events and experiences, his family realizes he’s actually helped them become better people and overcome their issues. Turns out he’s not such a bad guy after all. 

The story pretty much explores the hypocrisy and moral failures of people in a fun comedy setting. Most people don’t want to admit when they screw up, so they go and blame the person that points their weaknesses out. There are definitely some uncomfortable funny moments.

The film has a fantastic cast of actors that also includes, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Daschanel, Emily Mortimer as Neds three sister. Steve Coogan and Rashida Jones also have great roles as supporting characters. They all gave flawless performances, but Paul Rudd was awesome in this film. This is one of the better films that I’ve seen him in, and he gets to play such a great character.

One of the main things I liked about the film was the comedic timing and the situation that are set up. The scenes that are set up in the film end up turning out completely different than what you would expect. During the film I found myself saying, “oh, I see what they’re going to do here.” then all of a sudden the situation is turned on it’s head, and I’m completely surprised. There was also a lot of great snappy dialogue that I enjoyed.

I have no doubt that this movie will get picked up by a studio, so it will eventually get released, and when it does I highly recommend you go out and see this movie. I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Here’s the official synopsis for the film:

Despite looking for the good in every situation and the best in every person, Ned always seems to find himself holding the short end of the stick—being conned into selling pot to a uniformed cop, being dumped by his girlfriend, and worse yet, losing custody of his beloved dog, Willie Nelson. When he turns to family, he is passed from sister to sister while he gets back on his feet. Ned’s best intentions produce hilariously disastrous results, bringing the family to the cusp of chaos and ultimately the brink of clarity.