"Step Brothers"

First off, yes, I'm back reviewing on this site and hope to keep it updated with much more regularity so we can discuss great films.

Unfortunately, my first review back is "Step Brothers."

STEP BROTHERS (Dir. Adam McKay, R)

Will Ferrell has often been accused of creating characters who are perpetual adolescents, be it the seductively stupid Ron Burgundy or NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby, who prays to a baby Jesus in golden fleece diapers.

In their new film "Step Brothers," Ferrell and his "Talladega Nights" cohort John C. Reilly openly embrace their inner juvenile. The two play Dale (Reilly) and Brennan (Ferrell), two 40-year-olds who still live at home and find their lives disrupted when their parents get married to each other.
Brennan is a momma's boy who allegedly possesses a beautiful singing voice that he's too afraid to showcase ("I've been called the songbird of my generation," he brags to Dale). Dale walks around the house in his underwear and believes that his father's impending marriage will ruin their lifestyle of going to the bathroom with the door open, talking vulgarly about women and partying hard ("We've literally never done one of those things," his father reminds him).

When the parents merge, Dale and Brennan initially hate each other with a passion. Dale threatens to smother Brennan in his sleep. Brennan does something extremely vulgar with Dale's drum set that reminds us that no matter how much we like Ferrell, there are some parts of him we never want to see. Dale's father issues an ultimatum that the two must find jobs within a month or they will be out on the street. Future job-seekers should take a hint from this movie that you never interview "as a team" or tell an interviewer that they "sound stupid."

If Brennan and Dale's hatred of each other is bad news, it's nothing compared to the anarchy on display when they become best friends. The two embrace the brother they've never hadby performing karate in the garage, making a vulgar rap video and building the most haphazard set of bunk beds I've ever seen. If you've ever tried to sleep while two 10-year-old boys run around the house blowing stuff up, that probably best describes the feeling of watching this movie.

The material would seem to suit Ferrell and Reilly like a glove, and director Adam McKay ("Talladega Nights") knows enough to just set his camera down and let the actors riff. A movie with this plot would be amusing if the characters were 20-year-olds who had never left home; with two middle-aged men, it achieves a surreal nature that is sometimes hilarious, but more often than not, unsettling.

Both comedians are some of the best character actors in film and their fan base should be satisfied that they don't intend to class it up with anything resembling wit or intelligence. It's impossible not to laugh at Dale's terror of a neighborhood bully or when Brennan finally breaks into song. As Brennan's smarmy younger brighter, Scott steals every scene he's in by acting just as boyish, but far crueler, than the two main characters. Underneath it all, however, is the feeling that it's actually a bit creepy to watch two grown men act like prepubescent boys. As a "Saturday Night Live Skit," it might have been interesting; at nearly two hours it grows annoying fairly quickly.

But the laughs are shallow and easy. They're plentiful, but they don't resonate past the closing credits. McKay, who directed Ferrell's most memorable works, fails to employ the cohesion shone in "Anchorman" and "Talladega," in which every line of dialogue and every supporting actor provided a goldmine of humor. Here, the movie revolves around Dale and Brennan while everyone else struggles to catch up. Even Jenkins, who is a potential Oscar nominee for his turn in this year's "The Visitor," seems adrift trying to match wits with Ferrell and Reilly. There is a wealth of humor to be mined from the current situation of older men who still live at home and don't want to give up their days of Playstation, drums and dinosaurs. There are moments when "Step Brothers" seems to be on the verge of wicked satire about the situation, but then devolves into crude shock humor and vulgarity instead of character-based comedy that wrings genuine belly laughs. "Step Brothers," like its main characters, would be much more memorable if it just grew up. Grade: C-