Will Ferrell just seems to move from strength to strength. Stranger Than Fiction was generally well received by critics, Blades of Glory was an enjoyable piece of mindless fun, while Anchorman, along with Ferrell's alter-ego Ron Burgundy, has become something of a cult comedy classic amongst a lot of young people, with memorably ludicrous scenes and extremely quotable lines. The fact that a friend of mine, after making the comment ‘it’s so hot!’ in a nightclub bathroom, clearly heard a voice from a cubicle reply ‘milk was a bad choice!’ shows just what an impact Ferrell has made on the modern comedy circuit. So is his latest outing, Step Brothers another step towards comedic immortality? The answer, unfortunately, is no. Not by a long shot.
Step Brothers, also starring John C. Reilly a.k.a. Dewey Cox, features the two comic stars as a pair of loutish, unemployed thirty-somethings who mooch off their single parents, dad Robert (Richard Jenkins) and mum Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). When, during the film’s opening, the two parents meet, hook up and decide to marry, Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) are forced to confront one another and accept their roles as step brothers. Such a plot-line seems perfect for low-key comedy, with the two spoiled slobs being forced to get used to one another’s presence and habits. However, a major flaw in writer/director Adam Mckay's formula is that Brennan and Dale aren’t just immature. They’re presented as hyper-active kids in adult bodies, mugging at the camera and hurling things around. This approach immediately dumbs down the film’s material and makes Ferrell and Reilly's attempts at humour much more difficult to appreciate.
To me, Step Brothers seems like a children’s film, but packed with enough swearing to give it a 15 certificate. I’m sure a young audience would greatly appreciate the sight of Ferrell and Reilly clowning around, pulling faces at the dinner table and getting bullied by school kids. But this kind of juvenile humour is totally lost on a sophisticated adult audience for whom fart jokes and slapstick have a very limited appeal. Not even the dialogue can save this film from what it immediately brands itself to be. The witty, part-improvised ramblings that made the films of Judd Appatow, such as The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up so popular, fail to appear in the Step Brothers script. Instead the writers seem to think that by randomly placing the word ‘penis’ within a sentence, laughs will be raised. They aren’t. The remarks that escape Ferrell and Reilly’s lips are more along the lines of; 'I feel like a lightning bolt just struck the end of my penis' and 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but I'm gonna kick you repeatedly in the balls'. That’s about as witty as it gets. Not that there aren’t some funny moments in the film; a sleepwalking scene raises a few smiles and a bunk-bed accident is nothing short of hilarious, but mostly the jokes are completely unsuccessful.
Also, the narrative never really seems to know where its going. The film loses steam when Brennan and Dale decide to become friends instead of enemies, though they continue to misbehave, causing stress and desperation for their parents. The mother is inexplicably patient and understanding with the destructive pair for the entirety of the film, while the father all but disowns them, though, equally inexplicably, takes an immediate shine to Brennan’s older brother Derek (Adam Scott) a high-flying businessman who is presented to us as a totally one-dimensional character with no positive qualities whatsoever. Slightly confusing but, sadly, it gets much worse. After the destructive duo accidentally destroy father Robert's beloved yacht, the two parental characters decide to separate and find their own personal space, leaving Brennan and Dale to fend for themselves. During their first night home alone, they randomly attack one another, a conflict that escalates to the point that Dale drags a seemingly dead Brennan into the garden with the intentions of burying him alive. Until Brennan wakes up, knocks Dale out with a shovel and then starts to bury him alive. Dale later bursts out of the ground, having apparently been fully buried for some time, and the fight continues. The whole sequence makes literally no sense.
Thankfully, the pair eventually decide to settle down, go their own separate ways and, at long last, grow up. Brennan ends up working for his arrogant brother Derek in events management, while Dale becomes a successful caterer. It all seems like a happy, sensible ending to a juvenile, nonsensical film, until the pair meet up at a wine-tasting festival organised by Brennan and catered for by Dale. The parents Nancy and Robert, also show up but, bizarrely are not impressed by the success of their children. Instead they seem to bemoan the fact that they have forced them to act their age and long for the old, juvenile versions. Cue a cringingly over-the-top resolution that sees Brennan and Dale cast away their hard-earned success and become wild, annoying slobs again, dragging the entire narrative mercilessly back to square one and thus making the entire film completely and utterly pointless.
Overall, a disastrous mess with none of the fun or wit that made Ferrell as popular as he is. Tedious, juvenile and ridiculous, not to mention deeply unfunny. Without a doubt, one to avoid. 2.5/10
Step Brothers, also starring John C. Reilly a.k.a. Dewey Cox, features the two comic stars as a pair of loutish, unemployed thirty-somethings who mooch off their single parents, dad Robert (Richard Jenkins) and mum Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). When, during the film’s opening, the two parents meet, hook up and decide to marry, Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) are forced to confront one another and accept their roles as step brothers. Such a plot-line seems perfect for low-key comedy, with the two spoiled slobs being forced to get used to one another’s presence and habits. However, a major flaw in writer/director Adam Mckay's formula is that Brennan and Dale aren’t just immature. They’re presented as hyper-active kids in adult bodies, mugging at the camera and hurling things around. This approach immediately dumbs down the film’s material and makes Ferrell and Reilly's attempts at humour much more difficult to appreciate.
To me, Step Brothers seems like a children’s film, but packed with enough swearing to give it a 15 certificate. I’m sure a young audience would greatly appreciate the sight of Ferrell and Reilly clowning around, pulling faces at the dinner table and getting bullied by school kids. But this kind of juvenile humour is totally lost on a sophisticated adult audience for whom fart jokes and slapstick have a very limited appeal. Not even the dialogue can save this film from what it immediately brands itself to be. The witty, part-improvised ramblings that made the films of Judd Appatow, such as The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up so popular, fail to appear in the Step Brothers script. Instead the writers seem to think that by randomly placing the word ‘penis’ within a sentence, laughs will be raised. They aren’t. The remarks that escape Ferrell and Reilly’s lips are more along the lines of; 'I feel like a lightning bolt just struck the end of my penis' and 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but I'm gonna kick you repeatedly in the balls'. That’s about as witty as it gets. Not that there aren’t some funny moments in the film; a sleepwalking scene raises a few smiles and a bunk-bed accident is nothing short of hilarious, but mostly the jokes are completely unsuccessful.
Also, the narrative never really seems to know where its going. The film loses steam when Brennan and Dale decide to become friends instead of enemies, though they continue to misbehave, causing stress and desperation for their parents. The mother is inexplicably patient and understanding with the destructive pair for the entirety of the film, while the father all but disowns them, though, equally inexplicably, takes an immediate shine to Brennan’s older brother Derek (Adam Scott) a high-flying businessman who is presented to us as a totally one-dimensional character with no positive qualities whatsoever. Slightly confusing but, sadly, it gets much worse. After the destructive duo accidentally destroy father Robert's beloved yacht, the two parental characters decide to separate and find their own personal space, leaving Brennan and Dale to fend for themselves. During their first night home alone, they randomly attack one another, a conflict that escalates to the point that Dale drags a seemingly dead Brennan into the garden with the intentions of burying him alive. Until Brennan wakes up, knocks Dale out with a shovel and then starts to bury him alive. Dale later bursts out of the ground, having apparently been fully buried for some time, and the fight continues. The whole sequence makes literally no sense.
Thankfully, the pair eventually decide to settle down, go their own separate ways and, at long last, grow up. Brennan ends up working for his arrogant brother Derek in events management, while Dale becomes a successful caterer. It all seems like a happy, sensible ending to a juvenile, nonsensical film, until the pair meet up at a wine-tasting festival organised by Brennan and catered for by Dale. The parents Nancy and Robert, also show up but, bizarrely are not impressed by the success of their children. Instead they seem to bemoan the fact that they have forced them to act their age and long for the old, juvenile versions. Cue a cringingly over-the-top resolution that sees Brennan and Dale cast away their hard-earned success and become wild, annoying slobs again, dragging the entire narrative mercilessly back to square one and thus making the entire film completely and utterly pointless.
Overall, a disastrous mess with none of the fun or wit that made Ferrell as popular as he is. Tedious, juvenile and ridiculous, not to mention deeply unfunny. Without a doubt, one to avoid. 2.5/10
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