Step Brothers: Another Will Ferrell Comedy or the Same One Again?

August 24 2008 15:57 Filed in: Movies
Will Ferrell’s career is still pretty much on cruise control...

In 2001, I decided I really like Will Ferrell after seeing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. He was extremely funny in that film and it kind of acted as springboard for his transition from Saturday Night Live and minor comedic work into a film career. It was 2003’s Old School, though that made him a bankable star.

He became such a bright star that the Hollywood rumor is that the entire studio pitch that got Talledega Nights greenlit was simply “We want to make a movie with Will Ferrell as a NASCAR driver.” Ultimately, he’s always funny, but really has only made a couple of films I would consider notable.

Eventually though, it became Ferrell with different packaging in every effort. It’s a lot of the same and it came to the point where my desire to pay to see him in the same movie over and over again just wore thin. However, before I address Step Brothers, I do have to say that if you have under 4 hours to spend and want to cover the best of his career, just rent two films.

The first is Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which I consider the slickest, smartest and funniest of the goofball Ferrell films. The second is one even the most low brow of Ferrell fanatics may never had heard of, 2006’s Stranger Than Fiction, in which he gives a completely brilliantly underplayed straight performance. That’s definitely the film that proves he can act and is one of the most interesting and original serio-comic films to have been made in the last several years. Very good and worth seeking-out even for non-Ferrell fans.

So, is Step Brothers, the current team up of Ferrell and favorite co-star John C. Reilly, the same old Will Ferrell goof ball offering? Yes, it is. Have we seen it all before? Mostly yes. Is it funny? Well, yes, it is. When you pay for Will Ferrell these days, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. I will also be one to admit that the use of the scrotum when done correctly can be a piece of comic poetry, as is proven in this film.

The entire premise is the friendship that develops between two live-at-home 40-year old men that basically have the minds of 14-year old boys. When their parents marry, they are forced to share the same house.

The first act of the film actually has a fairly decent number of good laughs, but like Ferrell’s career, it begins to wear quite thin very quickly. After the first 20 minutes or so it pretty much grinds to a halt in the second act and we are forced to watch this concept stretched way beyond its ability to generate humor.

Admittedly, the third act does manage to kick it back up a bit after it moves in a not completely predictable paint-by-numbers direction with some moments that tend to move in more of a weird direction rather than just going for a straight, slapstick.

In the end, a handful of good characters and performances and a couple of really funny moments do carry this thing a long way, but it’s really hard to recommend this as anything beyond “worth a look” when you’re surfing your cable in a few months. You’ll probably get a couple of chuckles and maybe even an audible laugh or two out of it. Don’t let missing this keep you up at night.