Step Brothers Is Another Jewel In Will Ferrel's Early 21st Century Comedy Crown

He's had a recent string of duds thanks to the likes of more middle-of-the-road comedies like The Campaign and Anchorman 2 and outright disasters like Get Hard and Daddy's Home, but Will Ferrell still remains one of my favorite comedians out there. Not even a hundred more movies even worse than Get Hard could erase the value of Elf, Anchorman and The Other Guys, three of my favorite comedies that utilize Ferrell's talents as an actor to phenomenal success. Despite my status as a Ferrell fanboy, I somehow haven't seen Step Brothers in its nearly-decade long existence. That managed to finally change this past weekend when I sat down to view the comedy.

Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C. Reilly) have become step brothers thanks to their single parents, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and Robert (Richard Jenkins), tying the knot. Though Brennan and Dale are nearly middle-aged, their maturity levels don't quite match their age. Scratch that, these two are incredibly immature individuals on their own and those juvenile tendencies only become heightened when they're forced to live together (both of them lived with their parents prior to the new marriage). You better believe conflict emerges between the two, with screenwriters Will Ferrell and Adam McKay finding lots of comedic ground to cover in terms of carrying over the behavior characteristics of an irritable five-year-old into these two forty-year-old men.

Around the time of Step Brothers release, a lot of American comedies came under scrutiny for heavily featuring "man-children" protagonists, individuals whose immature antics served as wish fulfillment fantasies for male viewers who could live vicariously through these characters. Step Brothers takes that archetype and revs it up to its absurdist apex in having Dale and Brennan not just carry a juvenile streak in their behavior but have their entire disposition consist of yelling, swear words and threats of violence. Their emotionally stunted human beings who cope with the world around them by engaging in this sort of behavior.

I'm so grateful Adam McKay and Will Ferrell were the ones handling this material since it's easy to see how, say, Adam Sandler could have turned this into an unbearable nightmare of a comedic movie. Instead, the creative duo manage to crank out an incredibly funny movie that makes great use of the "absurdist humor grounded in reality" aesthetic that worked so well with Anchorman (though there's a touch more reality here mostly in the more realistic looking filming style and color choices). The two lead characters antics come off entirely as hilariously over-the-top rather than irritating, a true feat for these kinds of comedies.

Why does it work so well? It mostly boils down to the two lead actors, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. Both of 'em are so good at committing wholeheartedly at replicating the vocal and physical mannerisms of adolescent individuals and transporting them into an adult body, a juxtaposition that never failed to have me giggling thanks to the way these two actors manage to play that off. Their interactions as both antagonists and partners-in-crime certainly feel true to how super young siblings bounce off each other and, to boot, both of them carry an impeccable sense of comedic timing with their smutty dialogue.

Watching these two get into mayhem is a hilarious occurrence that actually is sustained over the films 92-ish minute long running time to great results. It helps that they're not the only ones bringing the yuks in this movie, as Richard Jenkins (playing a great angry foil to the two leads), Rob Riggle (POW!!), Adam Scott and Kathryn Hahn all manage to bring a similar level of committed obtuseness to the project that makes it such a thoroughly hilarious movie to experience. You may not be able to pick your relatives but do yourself a favor and pick Step Brothers when you're in the mood to watch a super funny comedy.