Synopsis:

Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) is a thirty-nine-year-old who has never left home and lives with his divorced mother, Nancy Huff (Mary Steenburgen). Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) is a forty-year-old who also has never left home and lives with his widower father, Dr. Robert Doback (Richard Jenkins). After Nancy and Robert marry, the two sons are forced to become step brothers.

The Freak's Rating: C : Sometimes going to the movies is a gamble.  When the latest Michael Bay film hits theaters, it might be The Rock or it might be Transformers, the latter sucking as much as a film could.  Will Ferrell movies are an even riskier gamble than action films.  At their center, action movies always contain some form of mindless entertainment, usually containing explosions and gunfire, leaving even the most horrible story entertaining on some level.  When comedies don’t work, they are horrible, much like Anchorman, one of my biggest disappointments in recent years.  When they work they are wonderful, but there is rarely an in between.

Stepbrothers, however, ventures into the area of being in between, so much so that it merits a perfect C on my scale, a 75 out of 100 if we’re taking percentages (which we don’t).  SNL cast members rarely jump successfully onto the big screen.  Most stumble through mediocrity with films like Baby Mama and Night At The Roxbury.  Ferrell hit box office gold with his turn in Elf, thrusting him into stardom and via box office take virtually greenlighting any project he puts his name on.  This methodology has hit highs and lows with a resume containing Talladega Nights, Anchorman, Blades Of Glory, Stranger Than Fiction and Semi-Pro.

Playing virtually the same character for the last few films, Farrell is in familiar territory in Stepbrothers, but not entirely a duplication of his previous performances.  John C Reilly, one of my favorite actors, is as convincing a 40 year old child as Ferrell and shares the spotlight with Ferrell equally, a task many can't pull off.  Supporting cast members overact their roles, no doubt attempting to pull off O’Reilly’s screen-sharing ability, all failing miserably at it.  Obscenities are scattered throughout the film and some are more effective than others.  The funniest moments of the film are innocent rather than obscene, scenes where Ferrell's childhood curiosity and language come out of an adult mouth come to mind.  The screenwriters, as usual, tend to abuse the use of obscenities to attempt to garner laughs.

Storylines for comedies are always difficult to pull off.  When Stepbrothers has its reveal during the third act of the film, it comes as no surprise and is completely ineffective.  The message of “staying a child” and keeping your innocence is a decent one when handled correctly, but Stepbrothers goes over the top with its delivery and therefore loses out on a convincing ending.

Farrell’s performance is still humorous and the back and forth with O’Reilly does produce a few laugh out loud moments.  So even though many comedies are better than this one, fans who can overlook storylines and overacting of cheap dialogue will still get a kick out of this one.  For the rest of you, try to find a theater showing Sex and the City for a better laugh.

Matt's Rating: D : I can pop in any recent will ferrell movie and get the same exact character every time.  A stumbling idiot who is immature and makes a fool of himself.  Always getting angry and yelling.  Will can be very funny sometimes, unfortunately he has fallen into doing the same thing over and over again.  I laughed a couple of times but there was nothing that made it stand out for me.  Watch Talladega nights (since it's pretty much the same character) at home and save your money.

Jen's Rating: C- : This was funny but not a classic like some other Will Ferrell movies.  Then again some Will Ferrell movies are really bad.  This is right in the middle.  I don't think I'll be seeing this again.

Sebastian's Rating: C- : no tallageta knights was the only good will ferrel movie, and old school.

Storminator's Rating: C+ : I still like Will Farrell.  I don't know why, since I actually don't like most of his movies.  Overall, this was mediocre, but some of the over-the-top dialogue between the "brothers" lent a bit of salvation.
 

comment here to add your review!