I don't know about you, but I'm wary of any movie which was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival. The bottom line is that I've been burned too many times in the past, especially when it comes to comedies. (I'm looking at you Little Miss Sunshine, Hamlet 2, and Smart People.) These movies always strike me as the kind of thing which isn't actually funny, but people laugh at because they want to seem cool or intelligent in front of their hipster friends. Trust me, if they were watching these movies at home, they wouldn't be laughing. So, I go into any movie like this with trepidation. But, one must look at the law of averages and assume that one of these movies will be a winner. And that movie is Our Idiot Brother.

Paul Rudd stars in Our Idiot Brother as Ned, a simple-minded and very trusting man, who is simply a nice guy. Somewhat of a hippie, Ned works on an organic farm, and as the film opens, he's arrested for selling marijuana to a uniformed police officer while he is working at the farmer's market. Upon his release from jail, Ned attempts to return to the farm, but his ex-girlfriend, Janet (Kathryn Hahn), won't take him back. And to make matters worse, she refuses to let Ned have his dog, Willie Nelson. So, Ned turns to his family and takes turns living with his mother (Shirley Knight), and his sisters -- Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), and Liz (Emily Mortimer). The siblings are glad to take Ned in, until his innate honesty and determination to do the right thing somehow backfires, creating havoc in their lives. This leads to turmoil within the family as no one can decide what to do with Ned.

Allow me to start by saying that Our Idiot Brother isn't a perfect movie -- it certainly has some flaws. But, it is one of the best comedies which I've seen in a long time. It succeeds in this endeavor by unveiling a great mixture of heart, cleverness and stupidity. The cornerstone of the movie is Ned, who comes across as a rather unique character. In this time when many comedy characters are cynical or mean-spirited, or worse, simply stupid, Ned really stands out. He is simply a nice person. Ned is the kind of guy who's never met a stranger and he harbors no ill-will towards anyone. His child-like take on life is a joy to watch, and it creates a sense of wonder in the film, as we never know what he's going to do next.

Of course, Ned's behavior leads to many problems. First of all, people take advantage of him because he's so giving. Secondly, his blissful ignorance leads to complications with his family, as he can't keep secrets and he refuses to lie. This leads to a certain amount of tension in the film, as we wonder what Ned is going to do next to get into trouble. The movie makes a smart movie by avoiding Meet the Parents territory -- Ned makes many mistakes, but it never gets cringe-worthy where we dread seeing what silly action will follow. The interesting thing about these events is that Ned is usually in the right, and this forces everyone around him to have a moral come-uppance.

While this makes for a solid backbone to the film, and it gives Paul Rudd a chance to show that he can do drama, the real draw of Our Idiot Brother is the comedy. The movie is consistently funny, offering a nice mixture of one-liners, sight-gags, and silliness. Even when the movie gets very serious, it still finds a way to find the comedy in situations. I laughed out loud several times and there was a line near the end which caused me to have to pause the movie in order to regain my composure. The nice thing about Our Idiot Brother is that it somehow avoids gross-out or lowest common denominator humor, while at the same time, it never seems to be talking over the audience. Somewhat akin to a thought from This is Spinal Tap, the movie is able to walk that fine line between clever and stupid, and while this may not seem like a compliment, the middle of the road nature of the comedy is very satisfying.

Rarely does one fine a movie which can move them and make them genuinely laugh out loud, but Our Idiot Brother somehow does this. The movie is hilarious, while also being sweet and genuine making for a mixture which will leave the viewer feeling happy once the film is done. Our Idiot Brother may not sound like an appealing person, but I would welcome him into my family.

Our Idiot Brother may contain the best candle joke ever told on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of The Weinstein Company. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look very good and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail is good as we can make out the textures on objects and the daytime scenes provide nice depth. Director Jesse Peretz has chosen to shoot the film in a natural style and this transfer makes it very lifelike. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.5 Mbps. The track delivers clear dialogue and sound effects. Being a dialogue-driven comedy, we don't get a ton of mind-blowing effects here, but the stereo effects are nicely done, as they illustrate sounds occurring off-screen. Crowd and street scenes provide noticeable surround sound effects and the in-film music sounds fine.

The Our Idiot Brother Blu-ray Disc contains only a few extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Jesse Peretz. The Disc contains four DELETED & EXTENDED SCENES which run about 9 minutes. Two scenes show yet another subplot where Ned being a decent person gets him into trouble. I'm OK with this scene having been cut, as the many contained enough groaner moments where we watched Ned mess up. A nice scene from the finale was also cut. "The Making of Our Idiot Brother" (15 minutes) is a nice featurette which offers interviews with the cast and filmmakers, along with some on-set footage. The speakers talk about the story, the themes, and what the production was like.