Paul Rudd will reteam with Role Models co-star Elizabeth Banks and a trio of other ladies (Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer and Rashida Jones) in the Anthony Bregman’s Likely Story and Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub’s Big Beach produced comedy. In what now appears to be, on paper, director Jesse Peretz’s breakout hit (until today, he had forgettable titles in 2001’s The Chateau and The Ex), with lensing due to begin next month in the multi-class friendly backdrop of New York, The Idiot Brother should be readied for a Sundance showcase, only the overbearing mother is left to cast — it should be significant role that could make, break, shake the tone of the picture.
Scripted by Evgenia Peretz (a Vanity Fair contributing editor) and David Schisgall, the film is about an idealist (Rudd) dealing with his overbearing mother who crashes into the homes of his three ambitious sisters (Banks, Deschanel and Mortimer) and, in succession, brings truth, happiness and a sunny disposition into their lives while also wreaking havoc. Banks is a career-driven single about to get her big break in journalism after spending years writing about accessories at a fashion magazine; Deschanel is a bisexual whose flakiness and lies are getting in the way of moving forward with her caring, responsible girlfriend (Jones); and Mortimer plays a Park Slope mom too worried about having the perfect life and children to notice that her marriage is falling apart.