If the name Adam McKay doesn’t ring a bell, he is the main squeeze responsible for the likes of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and The Landlord (a three-minute short featuring his daughter Pearl McKay). In keeping his first choice writer/star Will Ferrell at his beck and call, McKay continues to deliver motion pictures that showcase Ferrell’s physical hilarity — via McKay’s spoon-fed SNL humor. With that said, consider Step Brothers a sibling to the aforementioned; after all, it’s precisely what you’d expect from the McKay, Ferrell, and Reilly trio.
Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) is a thirty-nine-year-old who still lives with his divorced mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) is a forty-year-old who still lives with his widowed father, Robert (Richard Jenkins). When Brennan’s mom and Dale’s dad decide to get married and move in together, the pair of immature adolescent minds – in adult bodies – are forced to coexist.
From the beginning, Brennan and Dale hate each other’s guts; they fight like twelve-year-olds and detest sharing a room. Yet, with time, the feud evolves into a bond. The boys soon realize that they must grow up and out of their parents’ home. With Brennan’s prick-of-a-brother Derek (Adam Scott) and Derek’s Dale-crazed wife Alice (Kathryn Hahn) along for the ride, Brennan and Dale seek independence and look to rock a Catalina Wine Mixer that has all involved. Step Brothers' funniest scene involves Brennan playing on Dale’s forbidden drums with more than just sticks. Packing shock value and a guaranteed guffaw, this scene stands out among the rest. However, additional snippets (like when Brennan sings for the first time to Dale and when the two battle in the front yard with weapons galore) will certainly become lodged in fans' memories as well.
Comedic moments aside, McKay pushes the envelope and garners an R-rating for pervasive language; just about every character overuses the f-word. For a better grasp, relate this to a comedy club rookie: when the show starts, the vulgarity induces laughter; but as the set rolls on, the crowd begins to consider how funny the material would be without the f-bombs used as a crutch.
What’s more, Step Brothers boldly promotes all Pepsi products just as audaciously as Talladega Nights promoted all of its “sponsors.” Seriously, between the barrage of Diet Pepsi cans, Mountain Dew t-shirts, and bags of Doritos, one could only guess how much PepsiCo contributed to finance this amusing, yet profane, film.
Better than Semi-Pro and Kicking and Screaming, on par with Talladega Nights, and not quite Anchorman, Step Brothers is consistently funny, but fittingly childish. What keeps it involving is its long list of memorable quotes, which kids/live-at-home adults can add to their arsenal of movie lines to spew.
Even so, while the script is hilarious, the phrasing and timing seems familiarly unfunny. Not to say that Ferrell’s humor is becoming stale, but he’s on the bubble of being continually cast and cast aside. Who wants to see Ferrell get spanked by Richard Jenkins?
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