The movie opens with a quote from
President George W. Bush (“Families is where our nation finds hope,
where wings take dream.”), then goes humorously downhill and dirty.
Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and Dale Doback (Reilly), both jobless louts
pushing 40, are horrified with the prospect of becoming step-siblings
when their respective widowed parents Nancy and Robert (Mary
Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins) get hitched. The boys quickly trot out
antagonistic behavior (“I’m not gonna call him Dad even if there’s a
fire!” Brennan declares while sulking in his Pablo Cruise T-shirt) and
set up childish parameters (Dale’s drum kit is off-limits, so Brennan
retaliates by “tea-bagging” the instrument), but then realize they have
so many things in common, like Star Wars, Steven Seagal and
wanking to girly magazines. Both also share a dislike for Brennan’s
snotty dickweed brother Derek (Adam Scott), a helicopter-leasing agent
whose blowhard patter—such as fishing expeditions with Mark
Cuban—somehow impresses Dale’s dad.
Step Brothers, director Adam McKay’s third feature with Ferrell, is something of a comedown after the inspired, anything-goes comedies Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Maybe it’s the Judd Apatow factor: Even though he co-wrote Anchorman and Talladega, both consistent, free-wheeling satires, co-producer Apatow’s Step Brothers
boasts a confining premise that feels more like a comedic chamber piece
(most of the movie takes place in the Doback dwelling) and a third-act
plot device that forces the over-age goons to grow up fast, similar to Knocked Up’s ode to quasi-responsibility.
Middle-age crazies: Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as Step Brothers.
Nevertheless, there are guilty laughs
aplenty for those in the mood for R-rated raunch, with Ferrell and
Reilly going to extraordinary lengths as they channel their inner
12-year-old dorks. These guys will do anything to sell a joke, from
goofy non-sequiturs (“Hey, I’m not the one staring at me!”) to
sophomoric sight gags (uh-oh, Ferrell’s Brennan is out of toilet paper
and there’s a bathroom carpet nearby. . . ), as their sheer manic
energy carries Step Brothers to the finish line. And if you can
get beyond the Ferrell-Reilly tag-team assault, there’s more amusement
from Kathryn Hahn as Derek’s unhappy wife who turns seductress with
virginal Dale, plus Horatio Sanz as the lead singer of Uptown Girl,
“California’s pre-eminent 1980s Billy Joel cover band,” which means no
requests for tracks from The Stranger.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has issued DVDs of Step Brothers
in the R-rated theatrical cut as well as a disc that pairs the
multiplex version and an unrated, 106-minute expansion; both
incarnations are letterboxed at a 2.40:1 ratio, and there’s also a
two-disc unrated set on the shelves. The R-rated DVD features a
22-minute making-of vignette; a four-minute gag reel of ad-libs and
crack-ups; a six-minute “line-o-rama” that offers more impromptu riffs
which didn’t make the final project; the two-minute music video “Boats
’N Hoes,” a shamelessly funny rap parody; and five extended/alternate
scenes running 17 minutes, with more profane gags that got squeezed out
(when asked if he’s ever pleasured himself while wearing night goggles,
Dale replies, “Yup. My spooge glows.”). And if you have 98 more minutes
to kill, don’t miss the commentary track with Ferrell, Reilly and
McKay, as they literally sing about the movie’s behind-the-scenes
action with musical accompaniment from composer Jon Brion, plus an
aural cameo from Los Angeles Clippers hoopster Baron Davis.
