Frangins malgré eux

Yeah, I'm not going to lie: my inner 12 year-old loves this movie. Or at least parts of it. Whenever Will Ferrell and John C Reilly are at war, it sends me into a fit of giggles - and totally feels like they'd ad-libbed half this stuff. It's when these scenes are awkwardly melded into the overall family story that the humor starts to go flat; despite the cast involved.

That said, Rob Riggle steals every one of his scenes. And Reilly's random "Boats and hoes!" outbursts has been in my head for ten years now.

It's so lovably dumb.

Despite a few jokes that fail to land, Step Brothers is still a ridiculously funny comedy that is gleefully stupid. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are perfect and have incredible chemistry. Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen are all great. It's consistently funny throughout and at points hilarious. Adam McKay's direction is great, it's well filmed and well paced. The music by Jon Brion and the soundtrack are both good.

Step Brothers (2008)

*** (out of 4)

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play spoiled brats who are still living at home with their parents. Ferrell lives with his mother (Mary Steenburgen) and Reilly his father (Richard Jenkins) but when the four move in together after the parent's marriage all hell breaks loose as the new step brothers can't seem to get along. Sometimes I can't understand mainstream critics who seem to walk into R-rated comedies and get upset that they're not watching some screwball comedy from the 1930s. Is this film stupid? Yes. Is the film raunchy? Yes. Is the film at times mean spirited? Yes. None of those yes marks matter because in the end the film is funny and that's the main thing. If you want a thinking man's movie then you might want to go elsewhere but if you want to laugh then this film offers up plenty to enjoy. I've never been a big fan of Ferrell but I thought he was terrific here as the lazy bum who can't stand to be out on his own. Reilly is equally great and putting the two together makes for some great chemistry as the two really know how to play off one another. I think a big key for the film are the supporting performances by Steenburgen and Jenkins as their straight forward approach to their "kids" makes for plenty of laughs and their constant struggle to stay sane is something I'm sure many parents could relate to. The film is full of dirty dick jokes, masturbation jokes and various other sexual jokes but I found myself laughing extremely hard. The first thirty minutes had tears running down my face but after that the thin plot shines through with most of the jokes being hit and miss but at the end I certainly laughed more times than I didn't so that makes this a winner in my book.

Really funny. good premise and lots of memorable moments (about 5 viewings, 1/17/2021)

This was quite a funny movie. Of course the entire premise is utterly ridiculous, two "grown men" ages 39 and 40, still job-less, living with their parents? It seemed to me that these two guys acted like 9 year-olds, but that is what makes it funny. I think this movie was even funnier than Talladega Nights, Ferrell & Reilly's first collaboration.

There was a very thin and outrageous plot, but it lent itself to tons of improvisation, and in turn creating some of the ridiculous scenes, circumstances, and dialog. And seeing Mary Steenburgen curse like a sailor was hysterical. Ferrell and Reilly both play their characters to the hilt, as does Adam Scott, the evil younger brother, and his insane wife played by Kathryn Hahn. Overall there is an equal amount of slapstick, dialog, and potty humor (well okay, probably a bit heavier on the potty humor).

Though the movie itself is very hysterical, there are also some equally good bloopers, cut scenes, etc. on the DVD bonus materials. These are as hysterical as the movie was. I highly recommend renting the DVD and watching the extra features.