Step Brothers Delivers Laughs

In a movie by Adam McKay, the co-writer and director of Anchor Man, Talladega Nights, and the Youtube hit short The Landlord, it doesn’t take audience members very long to shake their heads, smile, and ask themselves, “what did I expect?”

The plot shoves 38-year-old Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and 39-year-old Dale Doback (John C. Reilly), both of whom still live at home, under the same roof after their parents move in together. As the film progresses, Brennan and Dale come to hate each other, and love each other, and hate each other again, and love each other again, all while taking part in wild and childish shenanigans. The movie thus climaxes with a ridiculous display of rocking talent, and ends in a revenge karate showdown between the pair and a schoolyard of young children.

Like most Ferrell and Reilly movies, such as Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the majority of the humor comes from the pair’s juvenile antics, which surprisingly cause even the most mature audience members to laugh. Who could resist laughing at the pair fighting in the front yard with the aid of everyday items such as baseball bats and lawn chairs? Some of the duo’s crazy schemes may even remind audience members of their own childhood: what boy never wanted bunk-beds, or practiced karate secretly in his room?

Unlike many other movies that include either one or both of Ferrell and Reilly, Step Brothers consistently delivers humor, even if the humor is unwittingly redundant. Previous films that star either of these two actors often begin humorously, but as a plot begins to develop, jokes often spread out or disappear all together. Instead, Step Brothers has virtually thrown out any continuous storyline and replaced it with a barrage of non-stop jokes and over the top comedy.

So heed my warning, as long as you walk into the theater expecting, well, absolutely nothing, you’ll laugh out loud.

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