Step Brothers

Director: Adam Mckay

Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins

Adam Mckay has directed some very funny movies. He directed Anchorman, a movie that I don’t think many people will argue was not hilariously stupid. He also directed Talladega Nights, a film that I thought was actually superior to Anchorman (I know a lot of people who will wholeheartedly disagree with me on that). Adam Mckay directed this film, Step Brothers.

Will Ferrell has been in some funny movies. Will Ferrell was in the aforementioned films Anchorman and Talladega Nights. Will Ferrell was also in Old School, an instant comedy classic. Will Ferrell was in Elf, which could be a film that ends up replacing A Christmas Story as the must-watch movie during the holidays (remember I said could be not will be so don’t get all pissy about that comment if you have an emotional attachment to A Christmas Story). Will Ferrell was in this film, Step Brothers.

John C. Reilly has been in some funny movies and has also been very funny in some great movies. John C. Reilly was in (and was probably the funniest person) Talladega Nights. John C. Reilly was comedic gold in the wonderful Paul Thomas Anderson films Boogie Nights and Magnolia. John C. Reilly is in this film, Step Brothers.

Is it clear where I’m going with this? If you think this review is about to be positive you probably aren’t too familiar with my writing style (or sarcasm in general).

This movie suffers from thinking the premise is a whole lot funnier than it really is. The material Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have to work with in this film is stretched to its outer limits here. While I will admit that this film isn’t entirely a mess, I did laugh out loud more than a few times, its flaws far outweigh those moments the make you think this thing is actually going somewhere.

Reilly and Ferrell try to carry this movie with their great chemistry and obvious comedic talent, and to some degree they are successful in doing that, but it gets tiresome about halfway through. As I said before, the material just isn’t there. The two leads stretch what would possibly be a great 15 minute sketch on Saturday Night Live  into about 95 minutes. I felt worn out after walking out of this thing because the jokes just started to fall flat time after time and I was getting tired of trying to find a funny moment.

I’m trying to be as delicate as I can with this film because I have definitely seen worse comedies this year and last year with the likes of Semi-Pro and Drillbit Taylor. Dewey Cox was also much worse than this film.

This was very depressing for me because I tend to be partial towards comedies because good ones are far and few between and it’s always refreshing to see a great comedy film. There hasn’t been one of those yet this summer (unless you count Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was brilliant). I’m hoping Pineapple Express can deliver the goods that Step Brothers failed to.

Kevin’s Rating: 2 out of 5

Ok, so Kevin put together a very nice review, touching on the important aspects and details of what worked (and more so often what didn’t). And in this case, I agree for the most part with his review. John C. Reilly delivers most of my favorite laughs, including the films best laugh in an ode to Good Will Hunting. But since this movie is yet another decline from the great movies Ferrell was once a consitent party of, I feel as though he may be hitting his decline like many comedians before him. I’m going to take a moment to discuss this pattern rather than review this movie. Comedies and comedians seem to thrive in waves, giving us a few good movies and then consistenly poor films after their hype has settled. For example: Eddie Murphey, Mike Meyers, Adam Sandler, and Steve Martin to an extent. There are few exceptions to this rule (Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor [though he was more comedian than actor]) and I feel as though Will Ferrell is simply falling into this trend. We as viewers have tastes that are constantly changing, but tastes that are, more importantly, constantly wanting to see something fresh and new. Comedians tend to stick to their brand of comedy and their successful formula, which means over time, needless of the quality of the film, our response to the brand of humor will deteriorate. Anchorman was a gem, and Talledega Nights and Old School were both great, but I, along with most viewers, am starting to grow weary of Ferrell’s certain style of lavish humor. The man is a great comedian, but he needs to try something new to keep our attention. He was fantastic in Elf and showed some signs of true talent in Stranger Than Fiction. Perhaps a more serious avenue is his way to stick around. It has seemingly worked for Jim Carrey. I am also interested to see how and when the 40 Year Old Virgin bunch begin to feel repetative. I guess only time will tell. That being said, I’m very much looking forward to Pineapple Express.