‘Step Brothers’: Funny, foul,
but it’s no brain-teaser

At the Movies
By Senitra Horbrook

It’s hard to criticize a comedy that does what it’s supposed to do — make the audience laugh. Even still, I felt my IQ dropping a few points with each moronic scene in Step Brothers, the latest Will Ferrell movie. Yes, I did feel just a little bad about finding such stupidity so funny.
In Step Brothers, Ferrell teams again with Talladega Nights co-star John C. Reilly and director Adam McKay in a more mature-themed but low-brow comedy flick. This movie earns its R-rating. The dialogue is foul, and like most movies with Judd Apatow’s name attached (he’s a producer), male genitalia is on display. There’s some gag-inducing gross-out moments too.
While Step Brothers is sometimes uproarious, the characters are not very realistic or likable in this movie with a (thin) one-joke premise. After all, what’s likable about grown men who refuse to grow up?
Ferrell and Reilly play 39-year-old Brennan and 40-year-old Dale whose single mom Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and dad Robert (Richard Jenkins) meet and get married.
The meeting of the parents gives whirlwind courtship new meaning. They meet at a medical conference, and after a few quick film edits, they’ve tied the knot and are revealing their most embarrassing secrets — both have a grown son who still lives at home.
Nancy and Brennan move in with Dale and Robert. Initially, Brennan and Dale hate each other. Dale warns Brennan not to touch his drum set, a command he obviously disobeys ASAP. Upon realizing they have a few things in common, including a shared dislike of Brennan’s younger brother Derek (Adam Scott), they bond and become best buddies. Derek — who is Brennan’s polar opposite and a jerk of a brother — shows up from time to time with his wife Alice (Kathryn Hahn), who develops a hilarious crush on Dale.
Aside from a bunk-bed fiasco (which can be seen on the TV previews), I actually liked the movie better when Brennan and Dale were enemies. That’s probably because they start to seem like the same person when they’re getting along.
Nancy and Robert finally decide that Dale and Brennan need to get jobs and move out, but it’s a little difficult since they’re not the 9-to-5 type of guys.
It’s nice to see Ferrell and Reilly together in another movie, considering that their last films — Walk Hard for Reilly and Semi-Pro for Ferrell — were funny at times but generally low-performing. The twosome work well together.
There’s not much to say about what could have made Step Brothers a better movie. It pushes its thin premise as far as possible. It’s also one of those movies that people will either love or hate, with not much in between.
Step Brothers doesn’t ask you to think, just to laugh at the immaturity of its main characters. Those main characters give the audience plenty to laugh about, so I’d say the movie succeeds on that end.
Step Brothers gets a passing grade, but I think more movies should aim to ace the test and leave audiences wanting more.
Movie Grade: B