Emphasis on the "Idiot"

"Our Idiot Brother," the new indie comedy directed by Jesse Peretz, fails to make even an idiot laugh. Any potential of the movie being as knee-slapping and humorous as the previews deceivingly suggest was destroyed by the actual film. A slow-moving plot, cliché problems and actors not living up to their full potential make "Our Idiot Brother" the ultimate bore.

The movie begins by introducing Ned (Paul Rudd), a man who gets arrested for selling drugs to a police officer. Upon being released for good behavior, Ned goes home to find that his girlfriend is now living with another man. Ned runs off to live with his three sisters and mother, where he unknowingly manages to ruin their lives by destroying the foundation they laid out for themselves. Ned, however, loves his family unconditionally and honestly does try to help them out while he was out of jail. Unfortunately, a meeting with a parole officer lands him back to jail, causing his sisters to miss him dearly and do everything they can to bring him back.

With a girlfriend who leaves her loser boyfriend, a man who gets arrested for selling marijuana, and typical lowbrow humor, the plot is nothing but cliché. Everything in "Our Idiot Brother" has been done before and unfortunately the movie didn't present its problems, scenes, or character's personalities in a memorable way.

The slow moving plot also leads to disappointment. The storyline could have potentially led to very funny movie, but certain scenes dragged on and on, disengaging viewers along the way. The movie went into a great amount of detail on subjects that really didn't require it, causing the film to feel much longer than an hour and thirty minutes. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of patience to endure "Our Idiot Brother."

To be fair, the movie wasn't a complete disaster. It did have its funny parts, thanks to Rudd's acting, and did leave the audiences with a few chuckles. Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, and Emily Mortimer, Ned's three sisters, did an adequate job of acting but failed to provide the type of humor "Our Idiot Brother” was needed to have.

"Our Idiot Brother" doesn't surpass the viewer's expectations or leave anyone in tears from laughter. In these hard economic times, one should really keep their eleven dollars and perhaps watch another movie instead.

"Our Idiot Brother" (90 minutes) is Rated R for sexual content including nudity and for language throughout. Now playing in theaters everywhere.

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