Step Brothers

There's a difference between Step Brothers and Baby Mama. Step Brothers is not up to par with the best work of the Will Ferrell-Adam McKay writing team, but it is not like Baby Mama in the sense that it has made me lost faith in the brand. Many critics seem to not know the difference. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby made 7 films together. Would critics have given this film a bigger pass if Will Ferrell and John C Reiley's film were called Talladega Nights II? What I'm getting it is I thought this film was plenty funny and certainly inventive enough. In fact, I stayed in the theater and watched it twice. The big stars of the film are not John C Reilly and Will Ferrell but Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins for holding down straight faces and being convincing as a loving dad and a loving mom of such silly characters. You could insert the characters played by Jenkins and Steenburgen into something like Cheaper by the Dozen or Gilmore Girls and it would still pretty much work.

Welcome to Masterpiece Theater. In this program, we study, analyze, and praise only the most prestigious, mature, sophisticated, and acclaimed works in modern cinema. The next film in our program features male nudity, random humor, quirky one-liners, obscenities sprinkled like spices on meat, and enough immaturity to make Saturday morning cartoons appear to look like Mozart's 22nd piano concerto. The highly sophisticated and charming Will Ferrell teams up with dashing John C. Reilly as they deliver us a trip down a level of integrity rarely ever seen in movie-making. The result is a comedy so low in the intelligence scale, it doesn't require anything past a 2nd grade education to truly appreciate what a show they've put on.

In this comedy full of Shakespearean integrity, we find two men who fail to live up to their dreams, being forced to share the same house and the same parents. With their personalities being so alike, they start clashing like two extremely powerful magnets facing each other. However, as time moves on, they become close like brothers (as the clever title states) and attempt to succeed with each other's help. This script, helmed by Reilly, Ferrell and Adam McKay (Our director), combines crude humor with more heart than a dead flea for approximately 98 minutes. So, it's never too long and never too preachy.

Full of whimsical material, Step Brothers never quite loses focus in the art it's portraying. Whether it's engaging in a nasty battle against much younger kids, having to come in contact with feces, rapping about anatomy below the waist, fighting multiple times, making detailed threats about extraneous activities, speaking like a careless sailor, or even playing around with an extremely dangerous weapon in multiple instances, our heroes of the story encounter many, many obstacles. Just when you think the plot runs out of ideas, we get another surprise.

That being said, before engaging in a viewing session with this work of classy art, one must develop a taste for it. If you didn't quite comprehend the quality of Anchorman or Talladega Nights, then odds are you will not appreciate Step Brothers. You must be immune to absolute stupidity, absurdity, and crudeness that you just usually do not see. Ferrell has perfected his art of being a lovable oaf with the smarts of a sack of refined beans. If you do enjoy this sort of art though, then there's no reason why you will not engage in a spirited chuckle once in a while. You will be referencing the movie long after the credits roll; it's just a part of nature.

Bottom Line: On the offchance that you missed every hint towards sarcasm in the previous several paragraphs, Step Brothers is quite possibly the most immature movie in the history of modern film-making. With that being said, as long as you have the acquired taste and are willing to accept stupidity for a long period of time, you'll have a blast. The chemistry between the actors is phenomenal, as Ferrell and Reilly seemed destined to work together. The plot throws our main characters into many different scenarios, disallowing you a chance to see what's going to happen next. Step Brothers, a hall of fame candidate in any Masterpiece Immature Theater.

Despite a few jokes that fail to land, Step Brothers is still a ridiculously funny comedy that is gleefully stupid. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are perfect and have incredible chemistry. Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen are all great. It's consistently funny throughout and at points hilarious. Adam McKay's direction is great, it's well filmed and well paced. The music by Jon Brion and the soundtrack are both good.

Really funny. good premise and lots of memorable moments (about 5 viewings, 1/17/2021)

A lot of these reviews are really harsh. This movie is a pretty decent comedy. Yeah the plot is paper thin, but that's definitely not the point of the movie. John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell are a great duo and it's got a lot of laughs. It doesn't run too long, which is perfect. Just overall a solid movie. 8/10.