Step Brothers
My family and I went to see Step Brothers this afternoon. I knew it was going to probably be a bad idea to see an R-rated Farrell movie with my parents, but I threw caution to the wind and went anyway. Woo, not a good choice. Very raunchy, but also hilarious.
I don’t think it requires much of a step up if you’ve seen the trailer, but here it goes anyway. Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen meet, and instantly fall for each other. Gettin’ it on, they both tell the other things about themselves. They discover they both have 40 year old children still living at home. Oh, the hilarious irony! Flash forward, the two marry, and Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly meet. They instantly hate each others guts, and proceed to do everything in their power to piss the other one off. In the end, the two become best friends when Reilly punches Ferrell’s younger brother (played by Adam Scott) in the face for being a dick. Shenanigans ensue.
Directed by Judd Apatow (Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk Hard, …) and Farrell, Step Brothers feels like a really, really long clip from Farrell’s funnyordie.com project, and I can’t say I have any complaints in that regard. The one-liners the guys pull off, along with some truly hilarious scenes (Farrell burying Reilly alive, the two getting beat up by a gang of ill mannered elementary school kids, etc.) make for a really enjoyable film. I think my only complaint was the vulgarity; that isn’t to say it wasn’t funny, but when virtually every line of the film contains fuck, dick, vagina or fart, it starts to get dry. Honestly I found the banter between Farrell and Reilly more entertaining when they didn’t turn every line into an excuse to get an R rating.
So, how was it overall? Not a family movie by any means (not that the R rating shouldn’t be enough to tell you that), but if you dig Farrell’s crazy, off the wall humor, you’ll love it. If you aren’t sure, watch some of the top clips from funnyordie.com first and see how they strike you.
Rating: 
