Step Brothers

Name: Step Brothers
Genre: Comedy
Released: July 25, 2008
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 51
Cast: John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell

2008

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 382 Ratings

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8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 382 Ratings

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Step Brothers: Beds Into Bunk Beds

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: July 25, 2008 | R

Starring: John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell

Summary: Brennan Huff is a sporadically employed thirty-nine-year-old who lives with his mother, Nancy. Dale Doback is a terminally unemployed forty-year-old who lives with his father, Robert. When Robert and Nancy marry and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. As their narcissism and downrightBrennan Huff is a sporadically employed thirty-nine-year-old who lives with his mother, Nancy. Dale Doback is a terminally unemployed forty-year-old who lives with his father, Robert. When Robert and Nancy marry and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. As their narcissism and downright aggressive laziness threaten to tear the family apart, these two middle-aged, immature, overgrown boys will orchestrate an insane, elaborate plan to bring their parents back together. To pull it off, they must form an unlikely bond that maybe, just maybe, will finally get them out of the house. (Sony Pictures)… Expand

Director: Adam McKay

Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 98 min

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Critic Reviews

Kyle Smith

There is too much funny here for a movie (even though it continues into the closing credits). Step Brothers should be a TV show. Read full review

Steven Rea

While Ferrell and Reilly are great together, hatching harebrained schemes that have no basis in reality, part of the unexpected treat of Step Brothers is watching Jenkins and Steenburgen sink to such blithely immature levels of rude and crude comedy. Read full review

Michael Phillips

Stupid, predictable and fairly funny. Read full review

M. E. Russell

Are Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay getting tired of their own shtick? Read full review

David Ansen

I don't want to sound like a party pooper (or deny that there is something wickedly funny about seeing these middle-age adolescents beating the crap out of a playground full of little bullying kids) but there's something depressing about the never-ending celebration of eternal adolescence in recent American comedies. Read full review

Reyhan Harmanci

Essentially a throwaway film. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

There's a good subject for satire here, the extended adolescence of American kids. But satire presupposes maturity, or at least some perspective. The movie's calculation is that its subjects and audience share the same point of view. The results are truly ghastly. Read full review

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User Reviews

MikeM.

Jul 16, 2008

Probably the funniest movie I've ever seen PERIOD. MUST SEE instant cult classic.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Devon

Aug 2, 2008

I expected the worst out of this movie, but it ended up being hilarious. Definitely some of the crudest humor around, but definitely satisfying.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Evan

Aug 12, 2010

I own very few movies, but I do own Step Brothers on DVD. For my money, it doesn't get better than Step Brothers. The characters are extremely over-the-top, the plot is hilarious and the jokes never stop. From the opening credits to the final scene, this movie delivers the funny. YouI own very few movies, but I do own Step Brothers on DVD. For my money, it doesn't get better than Step Brothers. The characters are extremely over-the-top, the plot is hilarious and the jokes never stop. From the opening credits to the final scene, this movie delivers the funny. You can't expect any high-brow humor here. But the cursing, potty humor, clever plot twists, obscure references and subtle comedy is by far one of my favorite movies. It's full of one-liners that you feel compelled to imitate. As a side note, the DVD has great extra features. If you get a chance, listen to the commentary. It's just as funny as the movie itself. Best: John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell's AWESOME comedic chemistry.
Worst: No sequel.… Expand

4 of 4 users found this helpful40

TylerD.

Aug 10, 2008

I saw this with my brother and at times we were both crying out of laughter. There are some jokes that don't quite reach what they were aiming for, but they're few and far between. One has to wonder how much longer Will Ferrell can keep up the same act, though. Anyways, I highly I saw this with my brother and at times we were both crying out of laughter. There are some jokes that don't quite reach what they were aiming for, but they're few and far between. One has to wonder how much longer Will Ferrell can keep up the same act, though. Anyways, I highly recommend this to any fan of his previous stuff. It was hilarious.… Expand

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ChadS.

Jul 26, 2008

1987 is not just the address of the Doback household; the innocuous number also serves as a disquieting reminder for a seemingly imperturable father, that his quiet, middle-class life since Ronald Reagan's last days in the Oval Office, can be encapsulated thusly, in short order: 1987 is not just the address of the Doback household; the innocuous number also serves as a disquieting reminder for a seemingly imperturable father, that his quiet, middle-class life since Ronald Reagan's last days in the Oval Office, can be encapsulated thusly, in short order: lemons, or lemonade. 1987 is the year his son Dale(John C. Reilly) stopped growing up. During the course of some out-of-state business-related speaking engagement, anti-serendipidity stares him in the face from his podium on the stage. Enter Nancy(Mary Steenburgen). She has baggage, too. In fact, it's matching; hirsute baggage, with no silver lining, just like Robert's(Richard Jenkins). Don't let the presence of Will Ferrell fool you. As Brennan Huff, a(holy crap!) Pablo Cruise fan(in Adam Rapp's "Winter Passing", Ferrell's character stops wearing eyeliner because it's "too Adam Ant"), the former-SNL performer carries around his usual bag of absurdist schtick, but this time, his lavish buffoonery is framed by a setting that unsettles the viewer with complicated laughs. Inside "Stepbrothers" beats an indie heart that inevitably receives a dose of Hollywood atenonol, but not before the pathology of arrested development becomes self-evident, when the elder Doback's good will for his son is finally all tapped out. For a few tantalizing moments, the surface gloss that effaces the familial corrosion underneath the lowbrow hijinks of Ferrell and Reilly's physical comedy, is smudged. Something substantially dark manages to peek through. There's real anguish in Jenkins' face over his disappointing son that goes beyond standard comedy fare. Before the two brothers complete their character arcs, "Stepbrothers", in the time being, discomfits Hollywood protocol by being "The Brady Bunch" meets "Chuck and Buck"(Miguel Artega's 2000 film about a man-child who tries to reconnect with his romper room buddy). "Stepbrothers" has more in common with Todd Solondz's "Happiness" than Adam McKay's previous film "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". It's a shame that the institutionalized norm of major studio films, especially summer fare, dictates that all stories must strive to end happily, which predicates a change in narrative trajectory, that ultimately, feels grafted on, and ends up ringing false to the viewer. Especially, in this instance, because things get surprisingly hairy in "Stepbrothers" for awhile there, and I'm not talking about John C. Reilly's self-described "pube fro".… Expand

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AndrewBurge

Jul 31, 2018

There is a certain beauty in Adam McKay's 'Step Brothers'. A childish innocence which could have been this film's mark to greatness. Unfortunately this approach is often ignored in favor of screwball comedy which would be fine, but a few set-pieces at attempting humor are more screwball thanThere is a certain beauty in Adam McKay's 'Step Brothers'. A childish innocence which could have been this film's mark to greatness. Unfortunately this approach is often ignored in favor of screwball comedy which would be fine, but a few set-pieces at attempting humor are more screwball than comedy.

To be honest, I expected more from the man who directed cult classics like the 'Anchorman' series and even tackled with Oscar-worthy material in 'The Big Short'. Here, though, the story of two middle-aged men living with their parents is often riddled with awkward pacing and failed attempts at comedy. One such example is when Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell)'s brother, which has a successful career and an apparently happy family arrives into the scene and his wife, mentally damaged by his mannish control is having sexual intercourse with Dale Doback (John C. Reilly). They are nearly caught by the family but through a ridiculous explanation they get away with it. I was prepared to turn a blind eye to this in favor of comedy, but it happened twice.

Do not get me wrong. This film has funny moments. Just about enough to grant it a passing note, but then getting close to the ending, everything turns into the typical idealistic pathos. Seriously, is like watching a prolonged yogurt commercial. Also, this decay starts really early being a transitional slope from mediocrity to lackluster happy ending shtick.

Screwball comedy is a dangerous concept to work with. It is fragile and has a cheap and immature aesthetic which needs to be balanced carefully. When it works is brilliant, tongue-and-cheek; but when it doesn't, it can get a bit stupid. So yeah, 'Step Brothers' definitely has humor, thanks in part to Reilly and the screwball master himself, Will Ferrell, is just that it breaks too often.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Paulle

Jul 24, 2008

This is a stepping down stone of Adam McKay career. This film is filled like Epic movie dumb and vomit humor inspired like. This is the worst picture of 2008. Adam is making the wrong thing for his film for his r rated film. Totally unfunny and very mean spirited.

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22	#22 Most Shared Movie of 2008