Step Brothers (2008): Movie Review

Just when I thought movies couldn’t get any worse, I saw Step Brothers. This movie is a total waste of time, and is just full of it. I don’t even know how I managed to finish watching this movie, it was just so bad. Well, I didn’t watch it in one stretch though, I watched it little by little for a couple of days. I’m sure there are people out there who might enjoy this type of slapstick comedy, but when I say that this movie is really bad, I think I speak for all the sane people out there. The movie is about 2 good for nothing step brothers; Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell), and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly). It seems that these are also the same 2 people who starred in Talladega Nights. God knows what that movie was like. Step Brothers was released in theaters on July 25, 2008 in the United States and grossed about $130 million after 6 months (July 2008 – January 2009). I’m even surprised that it passed $100 million. I feel sorry for the people who actually watched this movie in the theaters.

The movie is directed by Adam McKay and the story is by Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. This movie is so bad, I’m not even sure why such a movie was made. All I can think of is that the director must be some kind of retard for even directing something like this. And the storyline, is just as bad. I just don’t know what else to say about this movie. Was the movie even trying to be good? The only good part of the movie might be the part a few minutes right before the last part of the movie. And that’s it. In other words, stay away from this movie. But for curiosity’s sake I watched it.

Here’s the plot of the movie taken directly from Wikipedia. There might be SPOILERS, so please be warned. S indicates the start point and F indicates the end point of the plot. Begin highlighting from S and end at F to view the plot.

S“Act I: Brennan Huff (Ferrell) is a sporadically unemployed thirty-nine-year-old who lives with his divorcee mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen, Melvin and Howard). Dale Doback (Reilly) is a terminally unemployed forty-year-old who lives with his widower father, Robert (Richard Jenkins, Six Feet Under). When Robert and Nancy get married and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. They immediately don’t like each other. Dale warns Brennan not to touch his drum set. Later, Brennan plays on the drum set. Dale enters the room and notices a chip on one of his drumsticks and confronts Brennan about it. Brennan denies this but Dale doesn’t believe him. Brennan then goes and places his testicles all over Dales drums and they both get into a huge fight. The fight ends as Dale and Brennan strike each other at the same time with a bat and a golf club. The parents declare that the irresponsible men should find jobs or else they’re out of the house. Later on, Brennan’s successful but mean younger brother Derek (Adam Scott) comes to visit with his family. As Brennan and Dale hide in Dale’s tree house, Derek comes to mock Brennan and Dale. Angered by Derek, Dale punches Derek in the face. Brennan is in awe that Dale did something to Derek that he always wanted to do. After this occurred, Derek’s long-suffering wife Alice (Kathryn Hahn) finds it arousing that Dale punched Derek, becoming infatuated with him. Both men eventually realize that they have a lot in common, and become best friends. They take job interviews at which they perform quite poorly. Walking home, Brennan and Dale decide to start their own company called “Prestige Worldwide” and encounter kids from a local school that beat up Dale on a regular basis. The kids beat up Dale and Brennan and force them to lick old dog excrement. At home, the parents reveal that they are going to retire and allow Derek to sell the house forcing them to find other living arrangements. Dale and Brennan sabotage Derek’s plans by dressing as bad neighbors (a Klansman and a Nazi) and pretending Brennan had died in front of the buyers. Soon they create a music video to promote their singing talents being shot on Robert’s boat hence the name of the song “boats and hoes,” and show it to the parents, Derek, and others at Derek’s birthday party. The video reveals that the boat was crashed into rocks, and a furious Robert spanks them upon arriving home.

Act II: During Christmas time, the boys sleepwalk and attack Robert after he wakes them up. Angered by this, Robert forces himself to divorce Nancy and put all the blame on them. Dale and Brennan blame each other for the divorce and go back to hating each other. They go their separate ways as they both get apartments. Brennan starts working for Derek and Dale becomes a caterer. At a sales party for helicopters, the Catalina Wine Mixer (arranged by Brennan), the family meets again just as the band quits due to a heckler. Robert realizes that the boys are miserable and tells them to be themselves again and go for their dream. Brennan and Dale go on stage as Prestige Worldwide and with Brennan’s singing of the song Por Ti Volare, the parents and Derek have a change of character. Robert and Nancy fall in love again after realizing why they fell in love in the first place, Dale breaks off his relationship with Alice after she fantasizes him as a centaur and herself as a woman in the woods, and Derek regains the love for his brother after bringing up a memory of them when they were little and Brennan helped him fly a kite for the first time. Since this, Dale and Brennan have become a successful karaoke duo. Brennan is now in a relationship with his therapist Denise (Andrea Savage). Derek and his children are now nicer and more respectful and Derek is in the process of learning to become less of an egotistical jerk. Robert and Nancy get married again and move back into the house with a new tree house made from the destroyed boat just for Dale and Brennan although Derek and his kids also go to enjoy it, and in the tree house are Hustler magazines, crossbows, pirate hats (which when Brennan wears one makes his girlfriend aroused) , and Chewbacca masks, though only one movie quality.”F

That was a really long plot, as if the story was good. If you chose not to read it, good, because here’s my summary of the plot, which contains massive big time ridiculous spoilers;

“Brennan Huff and Dale Doback are 2 stupid step brothers who don’t have a life.”

And that people, should sum up what the entire movie is about.

When I first saw the trailer of the movie, I already knew that nothing good could come out of this movie. But as I said before, I was just curious to know how bad this movie could be. And I can safely say that it was far worse than I imagined it. So to sum up this review, stay away from this movie. But watch it if you are curious. This movie is a very good example of how bad a movie can be. As a compliment, I think it did a very good job in accomplishing that.

Final Verdict: 1 / 5