Paul Rudd gets a lot of love from moviegoers, just not enough love. It’s not a wayward assessment to say that other than (arguably) Steve Carell, Rudd is the best actor doing comedy right now, in the sense that he could do so much, but he sticks to the joyful life of comedy. Thankfully he’s darn good at it.

Rudd plays the comedy everyman (“Role Models,” “I Love You, Man,” “Dinner for Schmucks”) as good if not better than anybody in today’s comedies, yet no one’s surprised when he takes a role like that of Ned in “Our Idiot Brother” and hits a home run with it. That’s because he’s always taking risks and offering something different when he’s not the lead. “Our Idiot Brother” gives us the best of both Rudd-worlds.

Jesse Peretz’s film also exists in an uncomfortable middle ground between modern comedy and indie family dramedy, which would explain why it has been met with mixed criticism. It succeeds mostly when looked at as a simple comedy with honest truths and strong performances.

Ned is a pretty complex idiot. Peretz built the character and Rudd builds his performance around his “benefit of the doubt” world view, and it makes Ned different from that dumb character you’ve seen before, though certainly pieces of his personality will feel familiar. His dumbness is quite believable, which says a lot considering the film opens with him selling pot to a uniformed police officer. Perhaps the difference is that he doesn’t sell right away, he gives it to him, but the officer can’t make the arrest unless he sells it, yet he manages to convince him to ask for money in return. Whole other idiocy ball game.

The comedy has a fairytale structure as Ned must rotate between living with his three sisters: Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) the strong-willed independent journalist, Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) the spontaneous lesbian stand-up comic and Liz (Emily Mortimer) the hardened mother of two with an emotionally unavailable husband (Steve Coogan). With a reluctant sense of obligation, they all give him things to do and of course a place to sleep.

So it goes that Ned finds a way of making their lives more difficult either through ignorance or some other means and they harshly overreact and blame Ned because they’re all kind of selfish. You can see it all unfolding, but Rudd has such charisma and these actresses are no slouches. Deschanel and Rashida Jones might not make the most convincing lesbians, but the film never falls apart thanks to poor characters. Without them, it would be hard to look past the obvious conventions, but they and the general high jinks Ned finds himself in keep you smiling.

There’s a definite comfort in this family redemption story no matter how many times you see it. What makes “Our Idiot Brother” different is that character fullness. Instead of writing in one-liner jokes, Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall focus more on humorous situations. Although not wildly original, the actors step in and give them that fun genuineness that makes you want to see things roll out how they do, even if you know exactly how it’ll happen.

The optimism Ned preaches guides the rest of it from there. The scenarios feel less contrived and more like sincere approaches to the question of how someone who’s so honest and looking to appease yet so ignorant of consequences would cause himself problems. His sisters’ reactions might be overblown, but the conclusion ends up quite sweet. Those who don’t corner the film into comedy or indie comedy/drama will find it hard not to be won over by this film and especially Mr. Rudd.

3.5/5 Stars

Our Idiot Brother
Directed by Jesse Peretz
Written by Jesse Peretz, Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall
Starring: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer

“What happens in Cedar Rapids stays in Cedar Rapids,” says Joan, a “one of the guys” kinda woman played by Anne Heche who views her yearly trip to an insurance conference in Cedar Rapids as momentary liberation from her life’s irrevocable commitments. For those of us who’ve tried to spend as little time in Iowa as possible, that little mantra’s something of a joke, but escapism means something different to everyone. “Cedar Rapids” puts much in perspective this way by showcasing adults as the children they often are.

Ed Helms gets his first starring role as Tim Lippe, an insurance agent from Brown Valley, Wisc. who’s never set foot out of his hometown and is even sleeping with his seventh grade teacher (Sigourney Weaver) to whom he’s “pre-engaged.” When the insurance company’s golden boy dies of auto-erotic asphyxia (which Tim regularly refers to as “an accident”), Tim must represent the company at the annual ASMI conference in Cedar Rapids where he must win the coveted Two-Diamond award for excellence or it will cost the company dearly.

Helms nails the fish-out-of-water character using much of the same naiveté that made him a beloved addition to “The Office.” Although in many instances his super-small-town mentality serves as a comedic ploy, it informs the way we watch the rest of the film, namely how he interacts with his new group of friends, characters that rather accurately represent the array of business types.

Tim first meets Ronald (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), the amicable by-the-books guy with who tells bland jokes and means well. Then John C. Reilly storms onto the scene as Dean Ziegler a.k.a “The Deanzy,” the straight-shooting schmoozer with absolutely no filter and as such, the source of much of the laughs so long as you find humor in creative vulgarity. Last would of course be Joan, who jokes around about seducing Tim but behaves otherwise. Heche seems to have found the path many actresses looking to rebound have taken: playing a damaged middle-aged woman trying to feel things out.

Essentially these characters are grown-up children in much the same way that the “The Office” brings playground dynamics to the adult world. Team-building activities and getting drunk are just the beginning for what these characters do and consequently how they behave. For Tim, it’s a long-delayed loss of innocence. He learns that even parts of his ho-hum life can have a two-faced nature; those people he believes to be bad end up good and vice versa.

Director Miguel Arteta (“Youth in Revolt”) seems to show an adeptness at this kind of comedy, drawing performances from the cast that provide nuanced characterization and believability. A comedy about Midwestern insurance agents doesn’t work if the people don’t seem average, yet at the same time, the characters are far from dull.

“Cedar Rapids” mostly struggles as most indies do in finding a balance between comedy and poignancy. The over-the-top comedic elements seem to push away from the dramatic, which is the film’s greater strength. There’s plenty of humor to be had in the nature of the story to the point that a scene with Tim going over the edge and smoking crack with a prostitute doesn’t seem essential to say the least. Tim’s reactions to moral conundrums seem a bit exaggerated as well in terms of the writing.

The ending lacks a bit of zing, but the intentions of Phil Johnston’s script are pure and true. His focus stays on a well-cast protagonist and Tim’s attitudes help create the perspective shift that allows us to enter the characters’ shoes. The results are light-hearted and not preachy in the least.

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3.5/5 Stars

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Cedar Rapids
Directed by Miguel Arteta
Written by Phil Johnston
Starring: Ed Helms, Anne Heche, John C. Reilly, Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Don’t mistake the gay characters and situations of “I Love You, Phillip Morris” for being original story components. Sure, not many movies of this caliber are so carefree and open about homosexuality, but underneath, the fact that the main character Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) is gay has no bearing on the story John Requa and Glenn Ficarra are telling. Although it certainly dresses it up and gives it its own flavor, Russell’s story is about embracing who you are and finding something — in this case a love — worth living for.

That said, Requa and Ficarra embrace the gay world of “Phillip Morris” unabashedly. The film enjoys regular bouts of vulgarity, especially sexually explicit language and a fair share of both depicted and implied gay sex. Those viewers that are still getting over “Brokeback Mountain” might want to look for other forms of entertainment. Those who can’t look past the gay humor will almost certainly see “Phillip Morris” as nothing but bizarre and, well, queer.

Steven Russell is a church-going Southern man with a beautiful wife (Leslie Mann) and family, yet he’s been gay as long as he can remember. After a devastating traffic incident, he has an epiphany that he can no longer live in this picturesque lifestyle and must embrace who he is. He moves to Miami where being a tasteful gay man comes with a price tag, which leads him to commit insurance scams among other cons to pay for his new lifestyle. When the law finally catches up with him, he lands in prison where he meets Phillip Morris (McGregor), a fellow gay inmate who’s more tender and much less Type A. Steven then realizes he can pull similar cons in prison to make his and Phillip’s relationship work. Eventually he secures their release from prison but Steven’s lies continue.

Carrey and especially McGregor give noteworthy performances. Known for his acting eccentricities, Carrey channels them appropriately into playing a gay man, but more so a man who won’t hesitate to cheat the system to have the life he wants. He’s desperate in a mentally disturbing way, willing to go as far as killing himself (numerous attempts no less) in order to lead that life and not get caught. Despite appearing in the film’s title, McGregor is far less critical to the story except in serving as Steven’s one true desire, but he infuses the film with a sweetness that allows it to succeed as a romance.

The film charts Steven’s lack of progress when it comes to learning his lesson, namely that there are consequences. He simply can’t understand why Phillip can’t see that he’s bending all these rules for the sake of their love. Carrey balances the innocent quirkiness with a sad desperation; Russell ranks as one of his best character portraits, without question.

Requa and Ficarra milk the gay humor and con man high jinks to give the film its off-beat tone, but the story has a nice simplicity to it. That simplicity could easily be overlooked given how loud and foul the film behaves at times, so perhaps the directors would do better to dial back a bit instead of incidentally masking the depth and message of their film. Regardless, the two handle homosexuality appropriately by avoiding flagrant stereotyping and creating complete characters.

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3.5/5 Stars

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I Love You, Phillip Morris
Directed by Glen Ficarra and John Requa
Written by Glen Ficarra and John Requa, Steven McVicker (book)
Starring: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann

As sports fans, we always consider the degree to which we support or dedicate ourselves to the team. “Big Fan” is a character study of a man who has formed his identity and life around the New York Giants. The film preys on our expectation that every fan has a clear line when it’s time to stop being a fan and start being your own person. That’s not true of Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt).

The concept of building a film around this type of character allows “Big Fan” to explore the notion of sports psychosis. Writer, director and former Onion editor-in-chief Robert D. Siegel clearly understands that sports films haven’t gone in this direction and he already demonstrated the chops to handle unique sports-devoted characters in creating Randy “The Ram” Robinson of Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler.” In “Fan,” his directorial debut, too much of good film convention is sacrificed to create Paul’s psychological profile.

The best way to describe Siegel’s error with the film is that it never goes straight down the path carved out by the set-up. Paul works a job as a parking lot attendant, but off the clock (and back home with his mother) he calls in regularly to his favorite nighttime sports radio program to defend the Giants and talk smack about the Philadelphia Eagles. His favorite player is a defensive lineman named Quantrell Bishop, so instinctively when glimpsing Bishop at a gas station, Paul and his best friend follow him. He ends up at a nightclub and when Bishop suspects him of stalking, he pummels him within an inch of his life.

The expectation is that the film will skyrocket from there. The press are sure to be busting down his door, the police will be on his case, etc. The aftermath is much tamer. The press apparently doesn’t even have his name and on three separate occasions, a detective comes to question him only for Paul to say he “doesn’t remember” when the truth is he wants Bishop back on the field so that the Giants can continue pursuing the division championship. The movie never really picks up in pace and disappoints in that regard.

It’s also hard to cozy up to Paul’s mindset. Most people wouldn’t let even their sports hero walk away if he nearly killed them, at least not without some kind of apology or settlement. He just wants to go back to being an average Giants fan. That’s all he wants in this film. He doesn’t want to live on his own, get a real job or make millions in a personal injury suit that his brother wants him to file. There’s not having traditional values and denouncing the life that your family wants you to lead, but then there’s Paul — an intriguing but fallible concept.

The biggest sin of Siegel’s story is how it veers away from being about either rectification of the assault or how Paul’s life is being forced in a direction he can’t cope with as a result. Instead it’s about getting back at the Eagles fan (Michael Rapaport) who calls in to Paul’s favorite show and trash-talks. Sure, Siegel’s point is to show how Paul wants to be a devoted fan above anything else in his life, but in route to telling us that, a lot of basic storytelling principles are violated and for a plot of this magnitude, “Big Fan” is strangely quiet.

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2.5/5 Stars

Big Fan
Written and directed by Robert D. Siegel
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Rapaport

Lance Clayton’s (Wiiliams) son Kyle (Sabara) is a perverted and disrespectful jackass. He’s obsessed with pornography, despises music and movies entirely, is flunking his classes and most of all, he hates his dad. Lance is a failed writer trying to keep his job as a high school poetry teacher and his co-worker girlfriend. But all that is about to change after a bizarre accident.

Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, director of numerous comedy shows such as “The Man Show” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “World’s Greatest Dad” is an unlikely black comedy that will surely twist anyone’s perception about what it means to be a genuine person.

Williams give one of his best leading performances in maybe as much as the last ten years. He pumps Lance full of his trademark charismatic wit, but he’s far from the character trying to be funny. The emotions of a man whose life is on the brink of failure going through a change as tumultuous as the one he endures is are varied and I think Williams plays them all nicely.

The pride of “World’s Greatest Dad” is the script. Goldthwait weaves a story that stretches our belief a little much but with great intention. Once you get over the hump and understand why many of its characters are more like caricatures, it’s easier to imagine this bizarre scenario is real. Goldthwait laces this film with so much rich irony that his direction alone elicits laughter. The Obama-like photo of Kyle that appears on numerous occasions represents so much that just having it in frame it is part of the humor and even the poignancy.

Non-traditional and a bit cliché at points, “World’s Greatest Dad” is not perfect, but the undertones and intention behind the events of the film is where it makes its statement. It poses a moral dilemma to the audience that it resolves in a way that most people wouldn’t consider as resolution, but it definitely works for this quirky dark film.

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4/5 Stars

World’s Greatest Dad
Written and Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait
Starring: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexie Gilmore

To set the record straight — maybe pun intended — “Humpday” is not a true gay and lesbian film, nor is it a “bromantic comedy” with homophobic slapstick. Lynn Shelton’s film is simple: what if two best heterosexual guy friends somehow got it in their heads that filming themselves having sex with each other would be a good idea? “Humpday” explores the bond between men and the difficulty they have with intimacy, particularly when its sexual in nature.

Ben (Mark Duplass) is a recently married man planning on starting a family when his old best friend, the free-spirited Andrew (Joshua Leonard) shows up at his house in the middle of the night. At a party, the two learn about an amateur porn competition and come up with the idea that two straight best friends having sex with each other would make a real artistic statement. Although they laugh at the idea the next day, their machismo of not wanting to back out in addition to some internally buried needs they feel the film would fulfill turn the idea into a serious project.

The most prominent feature of “Humpday” is its amateur documentary film-making style. Shelton is filming like she’s the camerawoman in the Real World house making a reality show. There’s an impressive realism with the dialogue and the way the characters relate to one another and it only lets up in a few spots. The story does a great job convincing you that this could theoretically happen even though it never would. I don’t think under any other set of circumstances other than the ones Shelton has imagined would something like this legitimately take place. Duplass, Leonard and Alycia Delmore as Ben’s wife do their best to convince you otherwise. They really seem like legitimate people in real-life relationships.

At many points in the film, Ben and Andrew address why they’re doing this. It’s an important question to the film and one that should also be asked of Shelton too. At times “Humpday” is supposed to be funny but there’s a lot of it which is meant to be taken seriously. You start to wonder yourself — namely if you’re a straight man — if you’d be able to go through with it which is one of the film’s great strengths. At other times, you kind of wonder why the issue has been blown up this much in the first place.

I think Shelton made this film because she wanted to explore the male bond and this was really the way to pull and push at it and manipulate it: by creating these circumstances. The film is surprisingly perceptive with some interesting insights into relationships but it gets a bit too hung up on two guys talking about having sex with each other and will they or won’t they.

“Humpday” is an LGBT film in the sense that it comes from a very sexually open and progressive mindset. There are a couple women in the film for example, one played by Shelton in fact, that are in a relationship but one is into Andrew as well. In that sense LGBT characters are a significant part of the film, but they mostly add to the discussion of sexuality and relationships as seen through these two best friends. Lose any expectations that the poster art and brief summary provide and “Humpday” will leave you pleasantly surprised.

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3.5/5 Stars

Humpday
Written and Directed by: Lynn Shelton
Starring: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alicia Delmore

Family comedy is a genre that garners a lot of rolling eyes these days. Families have been categorized and stereotyped. The kids are crazy. The parents fight. They make up. Even pregnancy movies are that way. Are they ready to have the baby? Will they keep? Will it keep them together or tear them apart. “Away We Go” avoids all of this. Is it about expecting parents and starting a family? Absolutely, but in a refreshing way.

The film is largely soft-spoken with some quirky humor thanks to the oddest supporting cast of characters you might ever see. It is indeed directed by “American Beauty” filmmaker Sam Mendes, but “Away We Go” is a completely different film. This is an exercise in versatility for Mendes and an honorable one that he pulls off as well as any of his films. The script comes form Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, two writers previously un-integrated into the Hollywood sphere. So in many senses “Away We Go” is like a newborn — there’s just a crisp, organic feeling to it.

Burt (John Krasinski of “The Office”) and Verona (former SNL regular Maya Rudolph) are an unmarried couple expecting a baby girl who after learning Burt’s parents will be moving away from them before the baby’s born decide they have an opportunity to pick somewhere completely new to start their family. Throughout the film they travel and meet up with friends and relatives, each with a unique set of circumstances and all of whom teach them a little more about what it means to start a family.

The film is not about them not being married and definitely not about whether they’re keeping the baby or anything like that. They’re completely in love, you can tell they’ll make great parents; they just want to raise their little girl in a positive environment. Through all the wacky friends they meet up with along the way, both they and the audience begin to realize just how crucial environment really is.

The phenomenal supporting cast members range from Jeff Daneils and Catherine O’Hara as Burt’s parents to a hysterical and ridiculous Allison Janney as Verona’s former boss out in Phoenix who clearly has an unhappy marriage with two desensitized kids. Then there’s the film’s diversion to Madison, Wisconsin where LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal) pushes her ridiculous parenting philosophy upon Burt and Verona. The script essentially creates a physical journey out of a couple’s quest of how and where they should raise a child.

Krasinski and Rudolph, however, are the ones that hold this film together. Krasinski takes the sweetness of his “Office” character Jim and turns it into a completely goofy but serious guy in Burt and Rudolph, always considered a comedienne, brings a surprising amount of warmth and range to Verona.

“Away We Go” is an honest, sweet, likable film that provides so many different examples of characters and situations that bring unique perspective and insight about parenting, family and when it’s all said and done, what home really is. We often let the concept of “home is where the heart is” fall by the wayside, but this film finds a new way to remind us about its eternal truth.

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4/5 Stars

Away We Go
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Written by: Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph

Based on his Oscar-nominated short film of the same name, Sean Ellis’ “Cashback” is an elegant and funny independent film mixing elements of drama, comedy, romance and fantasy. Musing on the relationship between the speed of life and love, “Cashback” is an artist’s rendition of a familiar romance formula.

“Cashback” begins like every other romantic comedy, with its main character Ben (Sean Biggerstaff, best known as Oliver Wood from the first couple Harry Potter movies) getting dumped by his girlfriend, launching him into insomnia and unrelenting personal reflection in the form of narrative. But Ben is an aspiring portrait artist, so Ellis, like his protagonist, reflects that appreciation for imagery in his direction, giving every scene stylishness and grace.

Ellis moves the camera in fascinating ways that capture our attention, making so many shots and sequences have an epic quality. At the same time, it’s interesting that the film uses so much narrative, making it seem more literary, almost a memoir even, yet Ellis never leans on this writing — so many images stand out memorably.

The fantasy angle of the film comes in when Ben discovers he can slow down and pause time for as long as he likes, a skill he learns at the local Sainsbury’s supermarket where he’s taken up night hours to make use of his lack of sleep. A long-time connoisseur of the female form, Ben freezes time to draw women in the supermarket, often times nude, yet he reserves some modesty when drawing his new crush, Sharon (Emilia Fox), one of the store clerks. Ellis perfectly captures these images of Ben’s affection and the result is that we see the beauty that Ben sees.

“Cashback” is very sexually forward, unafraid but not gratuitous or obnoxious in its use of nudity or sexual reference. Its sense of humor comes mostly in the form simple things like quirky characters and clever one-liners or quick shots. Its humor relies on the viewer finding it endearing and lovable.

The movie is also a meditation on time and love, giving us something to think about more so than letting us draw our own meaning. What usually happens is that just as we have surmised our own understanding, more narration comes in speaking of new ideas and we’re sort of left confused. Other times, the narration adds key thoughts to our heads that add meaning to what comes next.

Boiled down, “Cashback” is a really fresh take on the boy gets broken up with, does something as a result, finds new girl and struggles to make sense of love in the meantime. Adding in the simple fantasy element of time control, it manages to look at what we’ve seen in movies in ways we’ve never really seen them before, which dresses up the romance clichés quite nicely.