To the comedic world, both Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are iconic members. Mastering the art of hilarious antics and outrageous joke telling, the two men hit their stride a few years back, producing hit after hit and becoming a regular at the top of the box office charts. They both even earned some reputable award nominations for their hilarious jokes and rare serious parts. However, over the last few years both men have failed to produce even a semi-hit, losing fans with each new film.
In fact, just this past year, Ferrell released the highly anticipated Semi-Pro and Reilly showcased his singing talent in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Sadly, both films tanked miserably, marking the beginning of the end for both high ranking jokesters.
Now, after a string of box office disappointments, the former kinds of comedy are joining forces in hopes of reviving their film careers with the Judd Apatow comedy, Step Brothers.
As the film opens up, audiences are introduced to Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and Dale Boback (Reilly), two incompetent losers who have never had the motivation to make something of themselves. However, when their single parents tie the knot, it looks like the new step-brothers will be forced to grow up a little bit "“ or so we think.
Instantly the two brothers are at odds with each other as they are forced to share a room and can no longer have their parent to themselves. They whine and squeal and act like they are five, until they get what they want.
Yet, through all this, the film is actually quite entertaining. The jokes are new and funny, not to mention that Ferrell and Reilly actually seem to be feeding off one another and creating a 'real-life' sense of discomfort. Unfortunately, the good part is short lived.
Soon after discovering their first common bond, the two brothers instantly click and become best friends literally overnight. They are building bunk beds, practicing karate in the garage and even interviewing together as a team. And yes, it does sound pretty funny; however, I must assure you that the jokes are few and far between and when present, extremely short lived.
From the thirty minute mark it seems as if the actors ran out of ideas and therefore began to repeat everything that they used in the beginning. We started getting the same scenarios and dilemmas, which all resulted in the same conclusions.
Additionally, there seemed to be major mood swings between the men's parents. Forgiving and loving one minute, Mr. Boback turned into ruthless father who wanted nothing more than to be on their own and living his own dreams. He lost all sense of the story and ultimately lost the audience in the process.
Then there was Adam Scott who played Brennan's younger, more successful brother Derek. Now don't get me wrong, I fully understand that a conflicting character must be present for any of these films to serve a purpose; however, Derek was horrible. I don't completely blame Scott for the miserable performance, but I can't overlook just how pathetic yet required he truly was.
Combine that with the rigorous attempts to be both disgusting and outrageous, and the film reached its peak fifteen minutes in and was nothing but a downhill slide from there. The jokes were over-the-top gross and sadly, hardly any warranted a laugh. Not to mention the bland story and uneventful characters. It was simply pathetic, often making me feel sorry for it and wondering if I should offer the film a slight pity laugh for grins. Sadly, I never did.
