Review by Sean McBride

A reader took me to task after my 2-star review of Will Ferrell’s last film, “Semi-Pro.” She complained that the funnyman plays the same type of character in every one of his movies and that his humor only appeals to teenage boys. There might be some general truth in that assessment, but the bottom line for me is that while Ferrell’s man-child routine might not always be fresh, it’s still frequently funny, and coupled with the right supporting cast and screenplay, it has the potential to be an outright laugh riot.

Ferrell’s latest comedy, “Step-Brothers” proves my point. You’ve seen this schtick a million times before, but you’ll be too busy laughing to care. Ferrell plays a thirty-nine year old man who still lives at home with his mother (Mary Steenburgen). His sweet, no-stress life is turned upside down when mom meets a man (Richard Jenkins) with a still-at-home son of his own (John C. Reilly). When the parents get married, the two sons become step brothers and are forced to bunk in the same room. Will this new living arrangement force them to finally grow up and leave the house? Or might it just be easier to murder each other instead?

There’s a lot of humor found in watching Ferrell and Reilly prance around like spoiled ten-year-old boys, and coupled with a better-than-average screenplay, “Step Brothers” proves to be a real hoot. There’s a silly charm in watching our arrested development heroes get excited about forming a rock band or building bunk beds. As you might guess, they’re clueless with girls, and while they frequently practice karate in the garage, they can’t quite seem to defend themselves from the neighborhood kids who love to bully the men. It’s quite funny to watch Ferrell and Reilly being beaten up by an angry mob of children, and even more humorous to watch them exact their revenge over the closing credits.

Of course, as was pointed out, it’s all teenage boy humor, which means that there’s an overabundance of profanity and pratfalls. There’s also a shocking display of Ferrell’s genitalia, but while discerning adults might think their palates are too advanced for this very lowbrow style of comedy, the bottom line is that the entire theatre was laughing—even the grey-haired ladies sitting one row down.

I’d have preferred it if the film didn’t pull it’s black comedy punches toward the end in order to achieve a happy ending of sorts, but still, it’s nice to see Ferrell back in top form. He may not being pushing any comic boundaries with “Step Brothers,” but the old characters are still funny enough to warrant your movie money, even if you’re not a teenage boy.

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and weekly on KFDM-TV. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kavutv.com.