Copyright 2008, Sony PicturesSo, you're 40 years old, and you've been making money by acting like a child for at least a decade, in TV first and film later. Do you grow up and make adult movies, do you go the route of Bill Murray or Jim Carrey, or do you continue making an ass of yourself? Well, though I hope that Will Ferrell will soon choose less goofy roles (or maybe fewer of them), I can't argue that his latest film, Step Brothers, did make me laugh a lot.
The gold standard for Will Ferrell and his co-writer/director Adam McKay is 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which is one of the best comedies of the decade, tied, for me, with The 40-Year Old Virgin. This new movie, co-starring John C. Reilly (who appears to have gone the opposite route of comedians, choosing to be serious first instead of second), is not nearly as funny as Anchorman, but is far better than 2006's Talladega Nights, a film that was a big disappointment for me, as I had expected greatness.
The big plus here is that, unlike Ricky Bobby and pals, the story in this movie is not a carbon copy of Anchorman. Also, this is a film with far fewer big stars and far fewer Judd Apatow regulars (Seth Rogen makes a cameo here, but that's about it). Step Brothers, about two man-childs who start out as enemies and wind up as best friends when their divorced parents marry, manages to be funny while also dealing with unsuccessful marriages and the idiots in those unions (both, in this case, are the men). Oh, this is no analysis of marriage, but when you watch two folks in their golden years (Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen) enter a marriage based solely on the similarities of their lives and sex appeal, and see also two thirtysomethings in a hollow and loveless marriage filled with harmonic singing, Dane Cook on pay-per-view, and helicopters, it's hard to ignore what McKay and Ferrell attempt to do with the otherwise ridiculous and silly comedy they've got here.
Unlike Anchorman, Step Brothers does best when played in front of an audience. It's still funny on a TV screen, but not nearly as funny. The lines are not as memorable, but the film as Ferrell and Reilly doing what they do best together: riffing. Some works, some doesn't, but overall, the hits are more than the misses. Even more, this was the funniest comedy of the summer, against the slightly more disappointing Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder (Robert Downey, Jr. aside, the latter film was consistently chuckle-worthy, not laugh-out-loud). And, hey, you never know; Will Ferrell might choose to grow up soon...well, I'm not holding my breath, but it could happen.
Three stars out of four
No comments:
Post a Comment