Directed by: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins, Adam Scott, Mary Steenburgen
It took me four years to see this movie and after watching it, I realize I should've waited much longer. Step Brothers is a tiresome comedy with unlikable people doing ugly, nasty things to each other. Why is someone getting whacked in the head with a baseball bat funny? Or getting punched in the face? Or getting buried alive? Step Brothers is tone deaf in its attempt to squeeze out any kind of laugh. There were one or two funny moments, but the rest is rough sledding.
As the film opens, two nice people named Nancy and Bob (Steenburgen and Jenkins) meet, fall in love, and get married. They both have 40ish sons who still live at home and act like 14 year-olds. They are Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly). Brennan and Dale don't like each other at first, but after numerous threats, arguments, and fights, find common ground in their dislike for Brennan's brother Derek (Scott). Derek is a rich, ultra-competitive jerk constantly telling stories of his success to his fascinated parents. He is the type of guy who berates his wife because she can't sing Sweet Child O'Mine as well as her children during a car sing-along. Dale punches him in the face during a family get-together, winning Brennan's friendship in the process while arousing Derek's wife (Kathryn Hahn).
The trouble with Brennan and Dale is they don't act like real people. They are juvenile, but in a creepy way. Oh and they both sleepwalk and destroy things while sleepwalking, which makes things them even less tolerable. I enjoyed Jenkins and Steenburgen as the loving parents who are at the end of their rope with these two. Both are accomplished actors who have survived dreck before and will do so again. Ferrell and Reilly are also versatile comedians. They worked much better together in Talladega Nights, an overall funnier movie. There is too much cruelty in Step Brothers trying to pass for humor.
Soon enough, the two men are forced to interview for jobs by their parents. This of course doesn't go well, but other than one hilarious scene involving Dale's flatulence, these scenes just sort of slink away and die uneventfully. Speaking of the fart scene, the scene worked initially because Dale's fart was unexpected and couldn't have come at a worse time. Then, Ferrell, Reilly, and the hiring manager (cameo by Seth Rogen) begin discussing the smell of the fart and the scene loses momentum. This is the epitome of remembering to quit while you're ahead.
The plot moves along as expected. There is nothing that goes on here that can't be seen coming a mile away. The parents break up and then are brought together again by the scheming stepbrothers. Dale and Brennan prove at a major function that they have some worth. Brennan reconciles with his dickhead brother and so on. I guess we're supposed to be happy for everyone. I would've been, but it was too tough getting past all of the wretched nonsense that occurred in the preceding 85 minutes.
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