Step Brothers (2008)

And so the American onslaught of failed men continues, this time though, double trouble. Where to start? I guess I shouldn't have been expecting too much, I haven't seen much publicity or anything. This one has crawled out of the Hollywood production grinder like a dog with two legs.

Nancy Huff (Mary Steenburgen) and Dr. Robert Doback (Richard Jenkins) get hitched and only decide to introduce their 40 year old sons Dale (John C. Reilly) and Brennen (Will Ferrell) to each other after the fact. I'm a huge fan of Reilly, he's done some cracking stuff in the past, what a shame it is then that there seems to be much more of an attraction to comedy duo projects like this than ensemble bit parts like those of Bogey Nights (1997) and other P.T. Anderson masterpiece Magnolia (1999). Could it be the money, I wonder?

Seriously though, step it up, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), and with Cirque du Freak in the post, what happened to characters like Phil Last, Sgt. Storm and Buck Bretherton. Ok that last one was a joke.

Step Brothers is another in the long line of Old School (2003) killers but once again it doesn't come anywhere close unfortunately. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) was way off too but at least that was in the same genre...comedy. Whether it's dull dialogue or visual gags using Star Wars masks (not to mention the abundance of corporate sponsored Sunday t-shirts on display) it all pretty much falls flat. I did laugh at the bunk bed bit but that's about it. Maybe because there's actually a build up, instead of just saying swear words in crescendo based sentences.

On a more positive note seeing Clara Clayton back on the big screen since getting hitched to Doc. Brown saved it from being a total waste of time.