Step Brothers

"Step Brothers" is one of Will Ferrell's better recent movies, serving up a fairly consistent dose of laughs. Yet, somehow, this 90 minute movie felt much longer, and was much raunchier than it needed to be.

Ferrell stars as Brennan, an unemployed 40-year old who lives with his doting mother (Mary Steenburgen). John C. Reilly co-stars as Dale, a man of equal age and employment status, who lives with his father (Richard Jenkins). The two single parents meet, fall in love, get married, and join their families under one roof within the first 15 minutes of the movie. Brennan and Dale instantly resent each other, behaving like 9-year olds by fighting, setting crazy house rules, and calling one another crude names. Eventually they warm up to each other, suddenly becoming best friends, yet still not accomplishing anything outside of the house. It's after a series of events that they are forced to move out of the house and face reality on their own.

Honestly, that's probably more storyline than you really need. Reilly and Ferrell are hilarious together, and Steenburgen and Jenkins manage to hold their own. The story tends to go off course, however, when the side stories of the over-achieving older brother and the amorous sister-in-law come into play. Plus, the dialog seems written in such a way that someone must have challenged the writer to see how many times a four letter f-word could be put into the script. This is a case where the movie would have been funnier without some of the vulgarity.

All in all, "Step Brothers" is a comedy that requires no thought on the part of the audience and will provide some laughs. I wouldn't rush out to see it, but if you do go you won't be completely disappointed. Not a resounding endorsement, but I'll still give it a B.

"Step Brothers" is rated R with a running time of 95 minutes.