Review: 'Step Brothers' isn't infantile or brilliant, it's both!
Posted Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 4:07 PM Central
by John Couture
I must first put a caveat on this review. I'm not a huge Will Ferrell fan, but I do love me some John C. Reilly, so going into this movie, I was torn over the two leads.
It's not that I despise Will Ferrell because I don't, I find him to be one of the funniest men working in Hollywood these days, but sometimes, he just goes out to a place where only three people in the world can follow his quirky sense of humor and for me Step Brothers is one of those times. That being said, I did enjoy the movie at times, while at others I found myself pondering the absurd thin plot and trust me, that's not a good thing with this movie.
What works: it's Ferrell and Reilly re-igniting their comic chemistry that made Talladega Nights one of the surprise break-through comedy hits of 2006. What doesn't work: the flimsy semblance of a plot is clearly there only to serve as the starting point for their infantile antics and even in Talladega Nights the strength of the movie was the solid storyline that all the laughs fell back on.
Not since Dumb and Dumber have two actors made so much out of so little and that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you find yourselves constantly yelling "Shake and Bake" at inappropriate times then this movie deserves a place on video shelf. If not, then a fast rental on a night when you just want to laugh will suffice.
Bonus Features Again, if you're a fan of the work of Ferrell and Reilly, then the bonus features are right up your alley. The deleted scenes and features are really just more of them being themselves to even more outrageous levels.
In particular, the sibling rivalry feature is one that shouldn't be missed. In many ways, the bonus features provide more entertainment than the movie itself in the same way that blooper shows and America's Funniest Home Videos continue to find a massive audience.
At the end of the day, if you saw this movie opening weekend and are huge fans of Will Ferrell, you won't be disappointed in your purchase. However, if like me, you are on the fence than you might be better served watching Step Brothers as a rental.
