Our Idiot Brother Blu-ray review

            I’ve always liked Paul Rudd. Not every film he has made has been a masterpiece, but he always comes off as the type of person I would love to be friends with. Perhaps this is because he always seems to be playing some variation of himself onscreen. Even when he plays an extreme, like the hippy brother Ned of Our Idiot Brother, there is an essence of Rudd which remains. Even though I never would have imagined Rudd in a beard and long hair, I also can’t imagine any other actor playing Ned quite so sincerely.

            Ned is a constant nuisance to his three sisters, mostly because of his uncompromising trust for the humanity in people. This trust gets him arrested for selling drugs when he believes a uniformed cop’s sob story. After returning home to his vegetable farm, Ned finds that his girlfriend has replaced him and stolen his dog. With an optimistic plan to get back to his faithful friend, Ned moves in with each of his sisters living in the city. Mistakes are made but never because of Ned’s intentions. He has nothing but good feelings and good intentions for everyone around him, but this positive outlook doesn’t always work out in Ned’s favor.

Liz (Emily Mortimer) is the first to take him in, forcing her filmmaker husband (Steve Coogan) to employ him temporarily. Liz’s marriage isn’t going well and Ned unintentionally uncovers secrets which make matters worse. Next is Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), whose busy life and control issues keep her from a relationship with her neighbor and close friend (Adam Scott), who immediately becomes friends with Ned. The youngest sister is Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), who is endangering her longtime relationship with a lesbian partner (Rashida Jones) by continuing her self-destructive sexual ways.

 The Blu-ray includes a feature film commentary with director Jesse Peretz, along with a making-of featurette and a number of deleted/extended scenes.