Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly team-up (yet again) to bring the comedy pain and big laughs as the perfect mix-matched pair.

Movie Summary

Popzara Rating

...there's not much in the way of plot and character, but the chemistry between the two leads (OK, I lied in the first paragraph) is so well grounded and sincere by now that none of it matters that much. Much like Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber, most of the fun is watching these two idiots do their thing and how the world reacts to them. Although nowhere as inspired or raucous as that gem (but miles better than its insipid 'prequel'), Step Brothers is Ferrell and Reilly at their silly, unabashed and juvenile best. So it might not win any awards come kiss-up time (although Reilly's been nominated for an Oscar, so watch out!) it'll keep us laughing long after the hickey's fade away. Fun, if disposable, and full of the good stuff... Release Date: 07/25/08 MPAA Rating : R Studio: Sony Pictures

Written by Nathan Evans

Step Brothers, the latest comedy team-up by those wacky types Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly is stupid.  Really stupid, actually, with not much to offer those looking for high-brow humor or thought-provoking chemistry between any of the lead actors or supporting cast.  A disgusting script (by director McKay and Ferrell) fails to inspire any goodwill towards men, and never strays far from the playground for inspiration - unless its to ponder the taste and texture of dried-up doggy doo.  Explicitly juvenile and far removed from reality, don't be surprised when this one fails to make many Top Ten lists of the year.

But that's good!  Director Adam McKay (Talladega Nights, Anchorman) reunites with his favorite set of man-children Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly for y et another low-brow and R-rated romp that should please fans and foes alike.  Ferrell and Reilly play the title characters; 40-something slobs that seem forever destined to live the adolescent dream.  Lazy through and through, each fail to see the problem their never-ending buffoonery and delayed-adolescence is causing their respective single parents.  All this comes to a head when Brennan Huff's (Ferrell) mom meets the dad of Dale Doback (Reilly) and decide to marry.  Chaos - naturally - ensues.

Although its primarily Ferrell and Reilly's show, the rest of the central cast performs ably.  The parents, played by the great Mary Steenburgen (Parenthood) and Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under), are great at playing the sympathetic, yet unwitting enablers of their spawn.  Jenkins goes one better, easily giving some of the biggest laughs and moments in a film filled to the brim with stupidity and nonsense.  Adam Scott (also Six Feet Under), Ferrell's overconfident and annoying biological brother is less a presence, as his relatively transparent attempt to fuse the charisma (and look) of Tom Cruise with machismo does little more than provide the uniting point for the step-brothers to join forces.

While there's not much in the way of plot and character, the chemistry between the two leads (OK, I lied in the first paragraph) is so well grounded and sincere by now that none of it matters that much.  Much like Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber, most of the fun is watching these two idiots do their thing and how the world reacts to them.  Although nowhere as inspired or raucous as that gem (but miles better than its insipid 'prequel'), Step Brothers is Ferrell and Reilly at their silly, unabashed and juvenile best.  So it might not win any awards come kiss-up time (although Reilly's been nominated for an Oscar, so watch out!) it'll keep us laughing long after the hickey's fade away.  Fun, if disposable, and full of the good stuff.