Step Brothers
Behold the great man children of Will Farrell and John C. Reilly
Tags: Step Brothers Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Dec 22nd, 2008
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There is a certain gravitas that John C. Reilly has that makes him the perfect foil for Will Ferrell. In Step Brothers the two are 40-something men who still live with their single parents (Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins). When the parents marry, a new family is brought together and hilarity ensues. While this sounds like marketing tripe, it’s actually the truth – hilarity actually does ensue.
While both Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) are used to having everything their way, the new arrangements take some getting used to. Not only are they no longer the center of their single parent’s attention, but they both have to get used to a peer rival as well. This setup is mined for comedic gold over and over again as the two argue and fight, ultimately come together, and then let their egos get in the way of progress and revert back to more hilarious family in-fighting.
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In a way it’s a shame that the individual bits are more interesting than the film as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, Step Brothers is highly enjoyable, but in a way the whole is not better than the sum of its parts. The individual actors are funny, the premise is solid, the jokes are well executed, but something still seems to be lacking for the film overall. Towards the end there seems to be an overemphasis on what is meant to be a message of family and working together and forgiveness, and it’s delivered in a way that seems to be making fun of the message as well as delivering it, but by the time it comes around, it’s almost too late – we’re too far down the rabbit hole to shift gears. The whole of the film is unrealistic (especially when you look at how the two leads conduct themselves) so trying to force a moral at the end seems counterproductive.
Even though it isn’t the “prefect” comedic vehicle for Farrell and Reilly, it is a very good one and worth renting, even if you’re not sure that you’re a fan of either actor. For those that are fans, however, Step Brothers is absolute gold.
On Blu-ray, we get everything that was brought to DVD, and in high-definition as well. This is a welcome change from some other Blu-ray releases that have been coming with all of the special features in standard definition. Kicking off the bonus features we get an insane amount of deleted, extended and alternate scenes. There is so much here that they last longer than the film itself. If you watch the film and find it mildly enjoyable and wished there were more antics, here they are. The audio commentary is also worth checking out even for the more casual fan because writer/director Adam McKay sits down with Will Farrell and John C. Reilly (along with L.A. Clipper Baron Davis) and the delivery is quite funny with songs and laughter aplenty.
A few featurettes are also present. We get the traditional “making of” featurette that seems to be a bit more informative than the usual fare, and a lengthy one on the music in the film. Two fake featurettes are somewhat amusing, but ultimately steal the focus away from the film itself.
I didn’t expect to enjoy Step Brothers as much as I did, but found it to be knock-down, drag out, fall on the floor funny at times, and I’m not even a big fan of Will Farrell.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Preposterous situations that could only come out funny + Ferrell and Reilly are great foils for each other + Deleted scenes and audio commentary actually make watching the film more than once worthwhile |
8.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - A moral? Really? In this already unrealistic film? | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| This was clearly an excuse for those involved to get together and have fun - and it shows. Step Brothers is a fun film to watch. | |
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Tags: Step Brothers
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Dec 22nd, 2008 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
