Well, it's been quite a week in the Northeast in terms of weather disruptions and feet of snow. You won't find me among the naysayers suffering from Snow Fatigue, but you will find me firmly in the "as long as it's snowing, can I just stay home and watch Buffy and/or read one of the Zoe Archer books I picked up last weekend?" camp.
But instead of doing either of those things yesterday following the Great and Unexpected Blizzard of January 27, 2011, I came up to Scout Camp and we, er, decamped to Boston to watch the Sundance USA film My Idiot Brother at the Coolidge Corner Theatre.
I could have been heard complaining loudly this week (mostly to Boy Scout) that I wish that I had been at Sundance this year rather than last year (even the logos are prettier!) but that is neither here nor there. As the Oscar nominations came out this week, it was also fun to discover that I knew a lot of the movies (especially the docs) because they came straight out of Sundance 2010.
ANYWAY. My Idiot Brother is the tale of, well... an idiot brother. Played by Paul Rudd. "How is he that much of an idiot?" you ask. Well, in the opening scene he sells weed to a uniformed cop. What's so most excellent about this movie, though, is that there's more depth to it than "Ohmygod, how can anyone be that stupid?"
Ned is essentially a hippie who believes that in putting your trust in others, they will repay your trust with goodness. The officer made a good case for needing weed, and so Ned was happy to oblige him.
When Ned gets out of prison he gets passed around between his mother and three sisters (played with varying degrees of neurosis by Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks, and Zooey Deschanel). In his own way, and through use of his crunchy naivete, Ned then proceeds to deconstruct their lives (for better?) by exposing the cracks in their well veneered worlds.
There are some truly hilarious moments in this film (to detail them would be too spoiler-y), but it's also just the story of a family dealing with changing dynamics and real honesty, which I think we all know can be challenging.
When it makes wide release (and it did get sold at Sundance... yay!) I highly recommend seeing My Idiot Brother. The ensemble is stellar, as is the writing. Go go go go go.
Have a lovely weekend, and be careful. If you're not lucky you're going to end up with a review of Buffy Season 3.
I second this post! It was amazing and needs to be seen. Immediately.
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