Step Brothers :: Wessex Scene Online

Step Brothers

16th March 2009
Dean Read

About this film

Title	Step Brothers
Director	Adam McKay
Release Date	29 August 2008
Certificate
Genres	Comedy
Our Rating	3.0/5.0
Shown at Union Films Wednesday 10th December 2008 5:00pm

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Step Brothers Trailer

Two middle aged man-children still living with their lone-parents are forced together; sharing the same room, house, lives. This sounds like a typical throwaway comedy.

Step Brothers could quite easily have fallen flat on its face. When however the titular brothers are Ferrell and Reilly it’s a whole different ball game. Bringing their trademark commitment to quite idiotic roles (see Talladega Nights) the chemistry between the newly made brothers produces moments of brilliant comedy. Watching these two go at each other, clearly ad libbing most of the time, is worth the price of the DVD.

Supporting the two stars is a selection of actors who in some cases are not normally associated with all out comedies. Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins as Ferrell and Reilly’s respective mother and father seem to enjoy every minute of letting loose and getting to shout some profanities. However it is the believable drama between the two of them caused by their oft-warring offspring which gives the movie some heart. Also notable is Adam Scott as Ferrell’s brother by birth. He is (in modern parlance) an absolute douche, almost to the point of stealing the show from the leads. At points it’s like he’s decided to take on the most stereotypical Tom Cruise persona possible and then exaggerate it by a factor 10, but he manages to remain an original character.

Whereas Reilly has a fairly diverse back catalogue of performances Ferrell has been churning out nearly nothing but gut busters. Perhaps that is why the last 30-40 minutes of this project feel a little empty. Wandering into the realm of Meet the Parents level “comedy” I was left asking where the sharp, perfectly timed, abuse and anarchy had gone. Perhaps Ferrell is tiring of this act and phoned in the ending? I can’t really say why it dries up but it is a let-down after the initial hilarity. Those looking to Step Brothers for a Ferrell/Reilly outing the level of Talladega nights will I think be disappointed, if only because the qoutability is nowhere near as high.

Overall if you like Ferrell there is a lot to like here (although perhaps a little too much of that good stuff was shown in the trailer). Not just for the completists though there are definitely very funny moments, definitely worth watching once.