Few can, or want to, deny Paul Rudd’s understated charisma; as someone who has worked in a video store for years, I can attest to having heard nearly every kind of person regardless of age, color, or creed, after several debates about what movie to take home, finally sigh and say, “Well, this one’s got Paul Rudd in it, so it can’t be all bad.” Rudd’s magnetic affability shines through even in the most miserable slogs (I Could Never Be Your Woman). Despite a career peppered with as many off-putting films as minor classics, Rudd merits his reputation of being a loveable everyman actor whose universal appeal makes movie decisions that much easier on a Friday night. It makes sense, then, that Rudd would be cast as Ned, the absurdly trusting, stubbornly naïve titular schmo of Our Idiot Brother, whose unswerving belief in the goodness of human nature allows the audience to fall in love with him, even as it unnerves the rest of the ensemble cast. Read Sarah Silver’s review of Our Idiot Brother.
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