Wednesday 6 August 2008

Step Brothers - movie review

You know you're in trouble when the George W. Bush quote you open your movie with
("Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream") gets the evening's
biggest laugh.



It's no stretch along to call Adam McKay's Step Brothers the year's stupidest film. Part of me
feels bad labeling it as such, only then I remember that no movie boasting scenes
of a grown adult male licking cad feces real wants to be interpreted seriously on any level.



And yet, I'd be lying if I told you Brothers didn't make me laugh. Freed from the
shackles of having to follow an actual script -- McKay receives a "story" credit
alongside co-stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, which is kind of a gag in and
of itself -- the cast bathroom improvise with reckless abandon. But you have to tolerate
a fair ploughshare of idiotic drivel before uncovering a few choice lines, as when Reilly
tells Ferrell his tattle voice is "like a combination of Fergie and Jesus."



Brothers marks McKay's third feature-length coaction with Ferrell, and the two
experience found a formula they're comfortable with. They instal the comedian as a thin-skinned,
overgrown adolescent -- an narcissistic anchorman, or a delusional NASCAR driver -- then rattle his
cage by introducing rigid competition.



Step Brothers establishes the rules of its game before you're even settled in your seat.
Robert (Richard Jenkins) and Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) meet patch attending a medical
convention and bond over the fact that they both have 40-year-old boys world Health Organization haven't
left the nest. Deeply in love following a whirlwind weekend, the two get under one's skin married --
forcing disgruntled Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) to live under the same roof.



So, wHO are these guys? Well, Brennan's a sensitive songster whose dream of playing
was crushed at an early long time by younger brother Derek (Adam Scott, hilarious in the
function that commonly goes to Will Arnett). And Dale's a yobbo, the cranky aggressor
whose tipping detail appears whenever anyone touches his drum set. The fact that Brennan
finally touches Dale's kit in a fit of rage comes as no surprisal. What he uses
to handle the drums I'll leave for you to discover.



An ancient advertising military campaign for the New York lottery put-upon to