Step Brothers

I think it’s safe to say that I’m an ardent fan of just about everything Will Ferrell has been a part of over the last ten years or so (“A Night at the Roxbury” and “Semi-Pro” not included), but his latest potty-mouthed solecism “Step Brothers” didn’t quite rattle my rib cage the same way a modern cult classic like “Anchorman” always does.

It’s a coarse, cacophonous basket case of a movie that revels in the kind of mean-spirited impudence I would expect from a comedy troupe that is yet to be acquainted with a Judd Apatow production. In Apatow’s work, the characters can say or do things that leave the audience in a state of hilarious disgust, but more often than not they prove to be all bark and no bite.

Here, that couldn’t be further from the truth. These people hate each other with all their heart and soul and are willing to shatter familial relationships if it leads to dominance over their fellow wayward couch potatoes. I didn’t think tossing your own father down a flight of stairs constituted humor, but apparently writer/director Adam McKay finds that sort of warped giddiness to be a critical part of any comedic offering.

In fact, much of what goes on in this film falls into that warped category, because the entire execution feels like something they threw together at the last minute and includes a bunch of gross-out moments that must’ve sounded funny in the planning stages.

Ferrell plays Brennan Huff, a 40-year-old slacker who still lives at home with his mother (Mary Steenburgen) and has no aspirations outside of eating junk food or practicing karate in his garage. When he discovers that his mother is getting married and that he’ll have to share a room with another adult loafer played by John C. Reilly, his life couldn’t be more disrupted. He forges a volatile relationship with his new step brother Dale and most of his energy is spent trying to conjure up different ways to torture him.

Here is where I lost touch with the film, because it wants us to believe that these two oafs actually become best friends just as their parents’ romantic bond is rapidly unraveling. Things get quite raunchy and idiotic in the final act, so don’t get too excited about the idea of Ferrell and Reilly in the same project.

Sure, they have some humorous gags along the way, but Brennan’s biological brother played by Adam Scott is actually the funniest person on screen. The scene in which he leads his family through a demented “Sweet Child O’ Mine” sing-along definitely takes the top prize in my book.

Fans of Ferrell will certainly find some amusement in his antics, but I see it as just another wasted opportunity that could’ve been something special had they not opted for schoolyard sight gags. If you like your comedy without all the tedious adolescent jabber, may I suggest “Tropic Thunder” for a much more satirically enlightening experience.

- ** out of 4