Paul Rudd plays the lead character of Ned and boy is this guy a sap. The film opens with a cop asking hippie Ned, who is manning a fruit and vegetable stand at a farmer's market, to sell him some pot. Ned says he would have to be really stupid to sell marijuana to a policeman. But the policeman tells him a sad hard-luck story. Ned breaks down, gives the cop the pot, get arrested, and does eight months in prison for it. Ned has three sisters Miranda (played by Elizabeth Banks) who is unable to settle down with one man, Liz (played by Emily Mortimer) who has a husband that is bored with her, and Natalie (played by Zooey Deschanel) who has a tough lesbian girlfriend Cindy (played by Rashida Jones) that is an attorney.
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When Ned gets out of jail he wants to go back to life with his girlfriend Janet (played by Kathryn Hahn) and his dog called Willie Nelson. But while he was in jail, Janet found a new boyfriend and refuses to let Ned to live on the farm. Ned goes to live with his mother Ilene (played by Shirley Knight). Each week the sisters come over for dinner. It is clear that Ilene is uncomfortable with all of them for different reasons, Liz for always fighting with her husband, Natalie for expressing her lesbianism so freely and Miranda for not having settled down.
Ned wears out his welcome at his mother's place, then moves in with his sister Liz. He is supposed to help her take care of her children. He sleeps in her's son's room in the extra bunk bed, like he is a child. This boy is really into karate. But his parents are trying to convince him to be a dancer instead. When showing him some karate moves, Ned breaks his finger by accident. Ned tries next to live with Miranda but in an unguarded moment let's it slip that he knows that Miranda's husband is having an affair. He also tries to hang out with Natalie. Both Natalie and Ned do nude modeling for an artist to earn some extra money. Natalie has an affair with the man, getting pregnant in the process which Ned learns about but does not tell Natalie's girlfriend Cindy because Cindy has made a plan with Ned of how they can steal Ned's dog called Willie Nelson from the farm. But Janet stops them when they try to execute the plan.
Ned goes to one of the weekly family dinners and finally has reached his limit on what he can take. The totally mellow guy explodes in anger, surprising everyone. The police arrive to arrest him because he confessed to his parole officer earlier that he broke down and smoked some pot. The try to bail Ned out of jail but he prefers to stay there until Miranda convinces Janet to finally give up the dog Willie Nelson. Ned and the dog are reunited in jail when he is about to be released.
Best part of story, including ending:
This film is interesting because it explores how everyone can do very stupid things without thinking first about the consequences that might occur.
Best scene in story:
When Ned's dog is missing in the park, after they already were reunited, and then Ned finds the dog Willie Nelson has met another dog named Dolly Parton. It's a very charming scene.
Opinion about the main character:
It is almost too hard to believe someone could be so stupid to sell pot to a policeman. Ned does lots of stupid things but that one has to be the dumbest of them all.
