Family funnies

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly bro down
in the entertaining Step Brothers

by MARK SLUTSKY

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly: two funnymen who are genuinely funny men and who have made some fine contributions to comic cinema in the last decade or so. But the past little while has seen both of them in a bit of a slump, funny-wise.

Ferrell’s been stuck on these sports movies, which have been following the law of diminishing returns, the laugh-less, recent Semi-Pro being the worst of them. Last year’s Walk Hard, Reilly’s first big starring role, wasn’t quite as bad, but it was an underachiever in both yuks and box office returns.

So despite what looked like a pretty solid premise, my expectations for Step Brothers were hardly high, and that’s what made their latest a pleasant surprise: though not every joke hits home, it’s a consistently funny romp. Some of the best jokes might be in the trailer, but even so, there was enough here that I laughed all the way through.

Ferrell and Reilly play single men rounding 40, each unemployed and each still living at home. When their respective parents, played by Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins (both of whom are always great) fall in love and get married, they become the step-brothers of the title, forced to share a room and get along despite their extreme immaturity.

The main joke here is that they’re basically 12-year-olds, with the same interests and level of emotional development as pre-teens. At first they hate each other, but soon enough they become best friends and need to confront the outside world together.

I won’t spoil any of the jokes, but there are some genuinely hilarious and unexpected gags here, and the cast pulls off the goofy premise with a straight face. Step Brothers is an enjoyable enough way to spend a summer afternoon, and somewhat of a return to form.

Step Brothers opens
this Friday, July 25

>> Movie Listings