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Step Brothers

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Step Brothers (2008)

50%
45%
74%
N/A
N/A
50 %
Reviews Counted: 135 Fresh: 68  Rotten:67 Average Rating: 5.4/10
 
Consensus: The relentless immaturity of the humor is not a total handicap for this film, which features the consistently well-matched talents of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for crude and sexual content, and pervasive language

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Theatrical Release: Jul 25, 2008 Wide

Box Office: $90,695,938

Synopsis: While nearly all Will Ferrell's films are enjoyable on some level, they tend to fire on all cylinders when Adam McKay is involved. McKay co-wrote and directed ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY and TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY, two of Ferrell's most popular and consummately... While nearly all Will Ferrell's films are enjoyable on some level, they tend to fire on all cylinders when Adam McKay is involved. McKay co-wrote and directed ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY and TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY, two of Ferrell's most popular and consummately hilarious films. McKay reteamed with not only Ferrell for STEP BROTHERS, but also Ferrell's co-star in TALLADEGA NIGHTS, John C. Reilly (who has steadily proven himself to be one of Hollywood's most versatile actors); and though STEP BROTHERS may be the most threadbare of the three movies on which the duo have collaborated, it's arguably their best. The plot is about as simple as they come: Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and Dale Doback (Reilly) are deadbeat man-children thrown together when the single parents with whom they live marry. The two initially despise one another, but become fast friends over a shared love of ninjas, COPS, porno mags, and the comforts of living in the fantasy world of a prolonged adolescence. What makes STEPBROTHERS so much fun, however, has nothing to do with story or script; rather, it's McKay's foresight to step back and let Ferrell and Reilly run wild. The duo kick and punch, fart and burp, laugh and cry, yet somehow elevate such banalities to a level of grotesque poetry, hitting upon what feels like an entirely new comedic language. When the pair act like children, they are not presenting themselves as immature adults, but are literally acting like children, meticulously duplicating everything from the fears and concerns to the speech patterns and awkward physicality of children. It sounds simple enough, but it requires a dexterity and sense of timing and delivery that is actually quite amazing. In the end, STEP BROTHERS is really nothing more than an absurd comedy; then again, isn't that what they called WAITING FOR GODOT? [More]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, Adam Scott

Director: Adam McKay
Screenwriter: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay
Composer: Jon Brion

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image
2/5

Sporadically funny, and ridiculous enough to keep some fans happy, this silly comedy is like a Saturday Night Live sketch stretched far beyond the breaking point

Full Review | comment Comment
08/17/08
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Kudos here to both leads, who manage to channel their inner child to their adult personalities.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/08/08
Michael A. Smith
Nolan's Pop Culture Review
Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image
2/4

This should represent the nadir of Ferrell's efforts, but the truth is that he's done worse.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/01/08
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing
Ratings Image
N/A

It's definitely not highbrow humor. But we don't expect ponderous meaning or dovetailed subjectivity from an Apatow film, now do we?

Full Review | comment 3 Comments
08/01/08
Frank Wilkins
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Stepbrothers is the best comedy of the year and that's not saying much.

Full Review | comment 2 Comments
07/31/08
Charles Koplinski
Illinois Times
Ratings Image
1.5/4

The aggravation created by so much stupidity on parade, with so few honest laughs, had me squirming in my seat.

Full Review | comment 9 Comments
07/31/08
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly
Ratings Image
4/10

Possesses one and only one gag: watching middle-aged men acting like 12-year-olds with exceedingly dirty vocabularies...Easily the least-enjoyable of all the Ferrell vehicles.

Full Review | comment 1 Comment
07/30/08
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
Ratings Image
N/A

Despite being perhaps McKay and Ferrell's weakest film yet, it's still a McKay/Ferrell film, and that's enough.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/30/08
Sean Gandert
Paste Magazine
Ratings Image
N/A

Step Brothers signals another era of American comedy: It’s the sort of thing that will assist future scholars in crafting histories of 21st-century stupidity.

Full Review | comment 3 Comments
07/30/08
Eric Kohn
New York Press
Ratings Image
4/5

While the movie in general is sloppy and unwieldy, the gags [Ferrell] pulls off with co-star John C. Reilly deliver lots of big laughs.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/30/08
Stephen Silver
The Trend
Ratings Image
.5/5

Heightened suspicions of the decline of civilization became inescapable this past Friday when Adam McKay's Step Brothers oozed its way into theaters.

Full Review | comment 3 Comments
07/30/08
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Ratings Image
3.5/4

This isn't your Adam Sandler watered down comedy. It's raunchy, vulgar, rude, mean-spirited, and funny as hell.

Full Review | comment 3 Comments
07/29/08
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine
Ratings Image
5/10

You do get to see Ferrell's ball sack, which might be a draw for some, but otherwise it's a mess. Ferrell and Reilly bicker and it should be better.

Full Review | comment 2 Comments
07/29/08
Jeff Bayer
The Scorecard Review
Ratings Image
2.5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/29/08
Film Threat
Ratings Image
D+

When a 23-year-old male Anchorman fan would rather see a romance with Jenkins and Steenburgen than an R-rated comedy with Ferrell, you know something went horrible wrong.

Full Review | comment 3 Comments
07/28/08
Michael Dance
The Cinema Source
Ratings Image
3.5/4

It's nice to have Will Ferrell back, and not as, say, a sex-addicted curling champ from Liechtenstein with a testicle that hasn't descended and an appetite for Funyuns. A riotous movie that delivers on its promise thanks to expert improvisation and squirm

Full Review | comment Comment
07/28/08
Nick Rogers
State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)
Ratings Image
3/10

Another step down in Will Ferrell's career path

Full Review | comment 3 Comments
07/28/08
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com
Ratings Image
N/A

Don’t watch it on an airplane, don’t check it out on cable, don’t walk past the bargain basement bin where it’s been sold.

Full Review | comment 19 Comments
07/28/08
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

[S]atirizes the trend that's all the rage now: men wallowing in adolescence through their 30s... [H]alf the other movies we've been assaulted with over the last few years have actually seemed to celebrate that horror...

Full Review | comment Comment
07/28/08
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher
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