From the looks of the trailers, “Our Idiot Brother” is meant to be a feel good comedy with a hint of serious family drama, but the truth is, I ended up getting a little more than I bargained for.

Ned (Paul Rudd), the idiot brother in question, manages to wreck the lives of his three sisters through a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, mistakes and accidents.

The sisters, Liz, Natalie, and Miranda (Emily Mortimer, Zooey Deschanel, and Elizabeth Banks respectively) each lead very complicated existences that are instantly made all the more chaotic at the arrival of their idiot brother.

The series of errors that I assume the director meant to be comical and heartwarming, wound up being a whole lot more cringe worthy.

The sisters, women who are supposed to portray different lifestyles, have become harpy characterizations with little depth by the end of the film.

Miranda (Banks), the workaholic sister who cares more about her job than her personal life, is transformed from a preoccupied career woman into a female version of Gordon Gekko with too severe bangs.

Next is Liz (Mortimer), the career mother who has reached neurotic levels of child protection. Though her roles are often small and in limited release films, I’ve long been a fan of Mortimer, so this particular chop job of a character offended me the most.

You’re given the impression that Liz has very little control in her life, especially over her husband. During a scene that was particularly painful to sit through, Liz and her sisters are discussing the possibility of her husband having an affair.

The sisters suggest it is because Liz had “let herself go “and “given up.” Liz is understandably as perturbed as I was, but the scene leaves the audience unsure of whether we are supposed to accept the sisters’ excuse for her husband’s supposed infidelity or share Liz’s anger towards her three sisters.

Finally, there is Natalie (Deschanel), the pansexual youngest sister who lives with a bunch of artists and her lawyer girlfriend in a studio apartment.

It comes as no surprise that Deschanel plays a quirky cute indie girl with a wardrobe bought entirely from Mod Cloth. What is a surprise is that her commitment questioning and reluctance to settle down are the most human characterizations in the entire film.

The fact that the lesbian character attempting a relationship with a male one last time has been done time and time again (see: The Kids are Alright and Chasing Amy to name a couple) only makes it sadder that it is the only relatable portion of the film.

Ned, the title character, however, has only two faults: being too trusting and loving too much. This theme gets a little overdone towards the end of the film when the viewer realizes that Ned’s central conflict has to do with his one true love—his dog, Willie Nelson. Even stranger, I got a saint vibe from the guy. The longer I watched, the more his overdone hippy persona with long hair and a beard started to look kind of Jesus-like. When, in one scene, his sisters were crucifying him for their own mistakes, I actually sort of bit my tongue.

“A Jesus allegory? Impossible.”

For the sake of my sanity, I Googled the film reviews and stumbled across a Roger Ebert review titled “An idiot, or maybe a holy fool” all the while thinking, “Thank God he got that too… no pun intended.”

But even after I’ve scrawled this scathing commentary, I have to ask myself, did I hate the movie? The answer would be no. There were laughs to be had, and as annoying as it was that all the male characters, save for Liz’s husband, are billed as fundamentally good people, whilst all the women are cripplingly faulted, I have to admit it more than once successfully frosted my frozen film critic heart.

The awkward aftershock left by the faulty writing also helped to make the film seem more realistic, because life, after all, doesn’t have clear bisecting lines that make things simple. Life is as awkward as this film sometimes and this makes the movie have a semblance of reality.

The acting was good, you can’t fault the actor for bad writing, and though much of the humor was grounded in some weird Giving Tree/religious parable, it was far more adult than any slapstick comedy films and that type of humor just would not have worked in this film.

Would I recommend it to other really picky film goers like myself? No. Would I recommend it to anyone just looking for something funny to see on the weekend when they don’t have to analyze it for a movie review? Sure. In summary, there were laughs—not enough to distract from the over the top characters and themes, but just enough to keep you in your seat.