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DokBrowne [ 5.0 ]
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In many ways this is like Will Ferrell's "Before Sunset" to "A Night at the Roxbury"'s "Sunrise" - 10 years hence, we re-visit his archetypal man-child persona in its most extreme form (he's a grown man still living with his parents and acting like a pre-pubescent brat, volatile love/hate relationship with sibling redeemed in the end by singing together, all actual female love interest subplots summarily dismissed in an ode to platonic bromance), the inevitable difference being that this time, Ferrell and brother more or less mature into (half-formed) functioning adults. But seriously, someone could do a decent college thesis on the parallels and dynamic between the two movies.
On its own, "Step Brothers" is in a way pretty confusing - so committedly steeped in the surrealistic infantile behavior that has become the Frat Pack/modern comedy crutch that you could probably watch the movie with a straight face and assume it was just being provocative rather than wacky. Most of the time I didn't laugh because the situations were just strange. It's like "Dumb and Dumber" only more like "Asshole and Douche Bag". At least Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels were agreeable, optimistic doofs, and their antics lighthearted. You could probably make a disturbing satire out of the material used for this movie, more easily than the genial comedy they seem to think they've delivered. They take the gimmick too far, I think. There's no reasoning with these overgrown retards, and it's not like they're half-charming, half-trapped in childhood. Even actual children tend to be amiable sometimes, or at least harmless enough to tolerate. But the havoc wreaked by Ferrell and John C. Reilly is genuinely destructive, cruel, ignorant, and remorseless, and worst of all it isn't levied by anything else. Supporting characters who recognize this duo's stupidity and hence act as the viewer's surrogate just continually suffer for their awareness of the insanity at hand, giving us no proper relief from their antics. There's a line they crossed between over-the-top silly and just plain ugly.
The movie has moments, and for sure Ferrell and Reilly are fiercely committed to their schticks, thus deserving some form of praise, but then again, they should have known better than to alienate us. There's a balance to attain, and they don't. It was hinted at in the previous Ferrell/Reilly/Adam McKay collab, "Talladega Nights", but that movie held on to the balance for the most part. It's as though the team is tunneling ever further into myopic, misguided beliefs as to why their films were so successful. Just keep cranking up the rampant ids of the protagonists and the comic results will be ever the richer! Wrong. You still need style, a sense of humor, a tethering to reality however vague, or at least better writing. Maybe that's the ultimate stumble - they can be as obnoxious as they want, so long as the lines deliver. After all, what was the glorious "Anchorman" if not an extended improv contest of increasingly ludicrous Mad Lib-ian goofing off? In the end, "Step Brothers" just isn't as inspired in those ways.
Although kudos to Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Kathryn Hahn, and Adam Scott. Effective support, for what it was worth
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jeff_v [ 6.5 ]
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I just stumbled across this on cable as it was beginning and didn't intend to watch the whole thing, but it was funnier than I expected and ended being worthwhile, though I doubt I'll ever see it again. One of those ones where you know you shouldn't be laughing, and you can't justify it.
Also, Steenburgen was 55 when she made this and she looks amazing.
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| Weighted Rating | : 5.8 |
| No. Ratings | : 6 | |
| No. Reviews | : 4 | |
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