Sunday, July 27, 2008
A+E, Movies, Reviews

Laughs raise ‘Step Brothers’ above juvenile premise

This reviewer is really tired of man/boy comedies...

This reviewer is really tired of man/boy comedies in which middle-aged guys act infantile. “Step Brothers” delivers a double-dose, with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly behaving like two immature pea-brains in a pod. If only it didn’t deliver so many laughs.

Brennan Huff (Ferrell) lives with his mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen); Dale Doback (Reilly) with his father, Robert (Richard Jenkins). Needless to say, when their parents marry it’s no seamless, “Brady Bunch” merging of families.

Both unemployed, the boys have nothing to do but get on each other’s nerves. Robert tells the boys they have to find jobs, but they get the idea they can build an international music organization around Dale’s drumming and Brennan’s singing. Dale’s description of his porn collection, and his description of Brennan’s vocal, are two of the movie’s best moments.

It’s been years since Ferrell or Reilly have really surprised us. They do what they do (not that it’s easy), and with the right material and direction, it works. Both have stumbled recently, so it’s good to see them in a (more or less) worthy vehicle. They may, as in “Talladega Nights,” be primarily amusing themselves and director/co-writer Adam McKay. But this time enough of the fun communicates itself to the audience.

Yes, most of “Step Brothers” sounds like it was written by third-graders, and sensitive viewers may be upset by homophobic slurs and the treatment of a blind man and his guide dog. (It’s not a polite picture.) But when the stars (acting like third-graders) get into a groove, much of the film rises above the usual objections to this kind of silliness. 3 STARS—Steve Warren