Two middle aged, stay at home losers, Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C Reilly), are forced to share a home together when their single parents, Brennan’s mum Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and Dale’s dad Dr Robert (Richard Jenkins) get married.
Predictably these new step brothers don’t like each other much at first, but can they hold it together long enough to get their lives on track: a job, money, apartment, real life three dimensional sexual partners?
They say:
Variety: “Seesawing from the gleefully stupid to the desperately stupid.”
Empire: “No Anchorman, but it’s several steps in the right direction.”
Total Film: “The step bro squabbling reaps plenty of brillo-haired tomfoolery.”
We say:
Ah, to watch a grown man rub his nut sack against a drum kit, a woman pee at a urinal or a bunch of mouthy kids get beaten up in a playground. These are the simple things of comedy - the funny things.
Step Brothers really is as childish as all that, the warring siblings' behaviour is both appalling and hilarious ("That drum kit's a guy, so that makes you gay you fucker!").
If you’ve been converted to subtle Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction, this isn't going to float your boat. Here he's crazy, actually psychotic at one point, his typical conduct involving crying rape during a fist fight and masturbating seconds after his mother leaves the house.
Veteran support player Reilly is possibly even more bonkers. He has a muff of wispy hair and the beady eyes of a deranged scientist. Surprisingly when you consider Ferrell's previous form for hysterics, Reilly plays the scrappier part. He lands a sweet punch on Ferrell's real brother (a side splitting Adam Scott) and later wraps Ferrell himself in a rug and digs a hole in the garden. Their chemistry together is perfect. Neither actor strains for laughs - frankly the foul mouthed, uproarious script does that for them.
Bar fifteen minutes of flat wrapping up and the uncomfortable feeling of watching a feature length version of that 'adult baby' Jerry Springer episode, this is an enjoyable film. The narrative moves fast, zipping the plot in some interesting directions. These guys don't just bat each other senseless for the duration, this isn't Home Alone, their characters actually evolve along the way too.
As one childish antic too many gets the men their marching orders, the story focuses more closely on their parents. MILFy Mary Steenburgen and harassed Richard Jenkins are a sympathetic pair, Steenburgen trapped by unconditional love for her first born, Jenkins about two steps away from caving his offspring's head in with a spade.
When Adam Scott's tormenting bro becomes a regular fixture onscreen he creates a dilemma for the audience. Who’s preferable? A racist, rich prick of a son who leads family opera renditions of Sweet Child O' Mine in his Range Rover or Will Ferrell, a son who loves his mum but wipes his backside in the sink?
It's this kind of rock and a hard place decision that makes Step Brothers so funny. Up until the lame ending, events only seem to get worse for everybody, and that, especially when it entails a man being thrown down the stairs by two bawling sleepwalkers, is highly amusing.
What it boils down to this: If someone in your presence farts for twenty, wet seconds and it smells like 'ketchup and onions', do you a) snigger like a child, b) leave the room or c) vomit?
If it's 'b' or 'c', do not see this movie. If it's 'a', book your tickets right now - we guarantee you'll laugh yourself stupid.
CAST
Will Ferrell
John C Reilly
Mary Steenburgen
Richard Jenkins
DIRECTOR
Adam McKay
TIME
95 mins
POSTED...
Mon 1 Sep 2008 at 1:05pm
