Jesse Peretz’s Our Idiot Brother is a feel-good movie for people who resist feel-good movies, a flawed vessel that nonetheless stays afloat by clinging to its buoyant star, Paul Rudd. Its problems are numerous and apparent: The picture meanders listlessly, and in the end it’s really more of a character sketch than a comedy — the movie’s writers, David Schisgall and Evgenia Peretz (the director’s sister), haven’t really bothered much with a plot. Yet I came out of Our Idiot Brother feeling better than I did when I went in. It’s the kind of movie whose value lies between the lines, not directly on them, and if the pleasures it offers are slender ones, at least there’s something good-hearted about them.
Here at Movieline, we’ve seen some pretty random casts take the screen. Take for instance, the WTF -ery of The Big Bang (James Van Der Beek, Antonio Banderas and Snoop Dogg) or the brain teaser talent pool on Dorothy of Oz (Lea Michele, Kelsey Grammer and Patrick Stewart). But what can possibly be said about a trailer featuring Winona Ryder, Hilary Duff, Chevy Chase, Jon Cryer, Josh Holloway and Sean Astin acting out a second-rate Grosse Point Blank plot? Take a look at the trailer for Stay Cool and then we’ll try to articulate our thoughts.