Ahhhhh, the buddy comedy. Basic premise: put two entertaining people together with a script that allows them to showcase their talents and hope for the best. In Dumb & Dumber, Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey did it well. In Envy, Jack Black and Ben Stiller did it horribly and found themselves headed straight to DVD. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “So it goes.”
Step Brothers is classic buddy comedy fair. Fortunately for viewers, the formula works.
Chewbacca masks. Karate. Sleepwalking. Boats and Hoes.
These are just a few of the things in store for people who go looking for laughs in the third film from the creative team behind Anchorman and Talladega Nights. The movie stars Will Ferrell as Brennan Huff and John C. Reilly as Dale Doback. Brennan and Dale are middle-aged men who never left home and still live with their respective single parents (Brennan with his mother and Dale with his father). When Brennan’s mom, played by Mary Steenburgen and Dale’s dad played by Richard Jenkins, meet, sparks fly and they are quickly married, making Brennan and Dale . . . wait for it . . . step brothers.
Like other Will Ferrell movies, the script and plot are uneven, but if you sit down to watch Step Brothers for those reasons you are (insert Dan Rather colloquialism here).
Much of the movie functions as a framework for Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to play an oft-entertaining game of slapstick, adlib, and one-upmanship. Add in scene stealing turns by Richard Jenkins and Adam Scott as Brennan’s obnoxious, cocky brother Derrick and the movie delivers more hits than misses. That being said, the movie loses steam two-thirds of the way through and stumbles to the finish.
Step Brothers is at its best when (1) Brennan and Dale’s mutual detestation leads to pranks and physical confrontation and (2) when Brennan and Dale realize that they “just became best friends.” Other memorable scenes seem to be forced into the plot solely for their outrageousness.
Here is an imaginary conversation that led to one of these scenes:
WF: The rumble between the newscasters in Anchorman was really funny, but you know what would be funnier?
JCR: No, what?
WF: A rumble on a playground between two grown men and a bunch of school children!
I would definitely recommend Step Brothers to anyone who enjoys over-the-top adult comedy. There is nothing groundbreaking about the movie, but it is full of laughs. More importantly, Step Brothers has great rewatchability. With one-liners aplenty, it takes multiple viewings to truly appreciate classic lines like John C. Reilly’s proclamation to Will Ferrell that his “voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus.”
$ $ $ $ $
- Kevin
