Our Idiot Brother

By Sean O'Neal | June 15, 2011 | 4:05am

Aux News Coming Distractions

More than a decade after The Big Lebowski, there seems to be a cresting wave of films featuring unflappable stoner-types breezing through life and solving the problems of the uptight. Of course, compared to the inaction heroes of films like Pineapple Express and its spiritual successors or Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s heavy metal angel in Hesher, the stakes are much lower and the stoner is far sweeter in Our Idiot Brother. Paul Rudd stars as the black-sheep sibling in question, an organic farmer so optimistic and trusting he sells weed to a uniformed cop and winds up in jail, then tries to get his life together by bunking with each of his sisters and their individual hang-ups in succession, slowly but surely helping them see that life doesn’t have to be such a bummer, man.

Of course, much like this trailer, we’re making it sound a lot dumber than it actually is: The film was a Sundance hit, and it has a great supporting cast of people for Rudd to play off of, including Steve Coogan, Rashida Jones, and Adam Scott, plus Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, and Elizabeth Banks as Rudd’s sisters. Like most movie stoners, we bet it ends up being smarter than it lets on.