Step Brothers - Two 40 year old men (Will Ferrel and John C. Reily) who live with their single parents find those parents become married. The two men hate each other but soon find themselves becoming friends. They then learn to grow up.
Really, the usual thin plot premise has worked in other movies that Judd Apatow has had anything to do with remotely (producer) but seriously. This movie has almost no plot. It would have worked ten times better as a sketch on a comedy show (and did. Am I the only one who has seen Mr. Show with Bob and David?) than as a two hour long movie.
I have enjoyed both men's comedic and dramatic talents in the past, but after their most recent effort together: Talledega Nights, a movie that was tiresome and largely unfunny, who thought it was a good idea to bring them back together? Oh that's right, Adam McKay, the guy who directed and wrote that movie and also directed and wrote this one (There was a script? Really?). It felt like amateur hour at an imrov club. Occasionally something funny gets said or done, but you have to wait through a lot of crude, unfunny crap inbetween.
Reilly seems to have abandoned subtlety in comedy altogether. Ferrell plays an even bigger dumber lout than usual, still mistaking screaming for comedy. They are beyond quirky to the point of being cartoons. Make that cartoons you feel kind of bad for. Only Adam Scott comes out of this retaining his dignity as the sort of evil other brother to Ferrell's character. Seth Rogen shows up for a cameo scene to remind us how people can seem like real characters and still be funny.
Yes I love Anchorman, but I'm beginning to think that McKay is like a comedic M. Night Shymalan. He had one good movie in him. Period. The bar for taste could not honestly get lowered. There were some surprise laughs once in awhile, but I was considering leaving about half-way through..Once the "rift where the characters learn about growing up" occurs, McKay tries to squeeze this monstrosity into the cliché comedy mold, and it all feels even more awkward. Like only then they realized how ridiculous and unfunny it all was. The cartoons try to become actual people, and it's all just too painful. There is one bright light: Ferrell can actually sing (which I already knew from The Producers). Did we need to go through an entire movie to see it? Painfully dumb, Step Brothers gets a D+
Really, the usual thin plot premise has worked in other movies that Judd Apatow has had anything to do with remotely (producer) but seriously. This movie has almost no plot. It would have worked ten times better as a sketch on a comedy show (and did. Am I the only one who has seen Mr. Show with Bob and David?) than as a two hour long movie.
I have enjoyed both men's comedic and dramatic talents in the past, but after their most recent effort together: Talledega Nights, a movie that was tiresome and largely unfunny, who thought it was a good idea to bring them back together? Oh that's right, Adam McKay, the guy who directed and wrote that movie and also directed and wrote this one (There was a script? Really?). It felt like amateur hour at an imrov club. Occasionally something funny gets said or done, but you have to wait through a lot of crude, unfunny crap inbetween.
Reilly seems to have abandoned subtlety in comedy altogether. Ferrell plays an even bigger dumber lout than usual, still mistaking screaming for comedy. They are beyond quirky to the point of being cartoons. Make that cartoons you feel kind of bad for. Only Adam Scott comes out of this retaining his dignity as the sort of evil other brother to Ferrell's character. Seth Rogen shows up for a cameo scene to remind us how people can seem like real characters and still be funny.
Yes I love Anchorman, but I'm beginning to think that McKay is like a comedic M. Night Shymalan. He had one good movie in him. Period. The bar for taste could not honestly get lowered. There were some surprise laughs once in awhile, but I was considering leaving about half-way through..Once the "rift where the characters learn about growing up" occurs, McKay tries to squeeze this monstrosity into the cliché comedy mold, and it all feels even more awkward. Like only then they realized how ridiculous and unfunny it all was. The cartoons try to become actual people, and it's all just too painful. There is one bright light: Ferrell can actually sing (which I already knew from The Producers). Did we need to go through an entire movie to see it? Painfully dumb, Step Brothers gets a D+