By Christian Santiago, 18, University HS (2011 graduate)
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I was very excited to see Our Idiot Brother because I’m a huge fan of the movies that have featured Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel, like Knocked Up, 500 Days of Summer and Role Models. I wouldn’t mind watching these movies over and over again.

While Deschanel is funny in Our Idiot Brother and breathtaking to look at, it isn’t a movie I would watch repeatedly. Rudd (who plays Ned) and the cast were hilarious in a couple scenes, but there was too much going on and I wished most scenes were longer. I wanted to know more about Ned and his family.

In the movie, Ned goes to jail for selling marijuana to a cop. He gets released eight months later and goes back home to find out that his girlfriend of three years has moved on with another man. With nowhere else to go, Ned decides to live with his mom and seek help from his three sisters, who are played by Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks and Emily Mortimer. His sisters try to help him get his life together, but none of them know what they’re getting themselves into. He unintentionally starts causing problems in their personal lives. These scenes are funny, but I wanted to know more about the sisters, like how they got to where they were before Ned interfered in their lives. 

In one of the funny scenes Ned and his parole officer meet for the first time. As Ned is introducing himself, he says to his parole officer, “I’m very happy to have you as my parole officer. This is so cool. This is like a free therapy session. I get to see you every three weeks, ya know.” While he is talking, his parole officer is making these hysterical facial expressions that made it seem like he thought Ned was an idiot. A lot of people in the audience were laughing, and so was I.

Rudd was able to make Ned both like an idiot and a good guy. He may not be brightest crayon in the box, but Ned is a charming, family oriented guy and all he wants to do is hang out with his family, take care of his dog, Willie Nelson, and just live life.

If you want to laugh out loud, I recommend this movie.