Step Brothers
Two stars
Come on Will Ferrel. What is going on. Anchorman - hilarious. Blades of Glory - hilarious. Talladega Nights - kind of funny. That stupid basketball movie I cannot remember the name of - horrible. Step Brothers - not much better. My cousin gave this movie the perfect description - more misses than hits, but when it hit, it hit well. I would think two grown men acting like fourteen year old would be hilarious.
Unfortunately, it got kind of boring. It was the same jokes over and over again. They are teenage boys that like weird toys. They want to stay home and eat Cheeto's, while also starting an enormous entertainment company. They like Chewbacca masks and porno. Their older brother is an asshole. All fine and good the first time around, but then enough is enough. There were plenty of missed opportunities like when Dale (John C. Reilly) first had sex. That should be huge in the mind of a teenager, but it was barely discussed. The one place Step Brothers is earning stars is theme. Unfortunately, it comes late in the film, which appears to be the standard with these frat pack comedies.
The message is that people should be who they are, and it is perfectly captured when Brennan (Ferrel) and Dale become productive members of society that no longer like singing, drumming, shark week, boats, or hos. The father (Richard Jenkins) can not stand the sight of his son and stepson being destroyed, so he tells the story about how he wanted to be a dinosaur and his father told him not to be. Brennan and Dale then embrace their true identities, which really means they do what they want to do, the like and do what makes them happy. In turn, they actually become successful. Their world wide entertainment business does not get that large, but they open karaoke lounges across the state.
Success is the realization of one's values, meaning success is being happy, and that is exactly what happened to Brennan and Dale.
- Futile Weekend
A famous person once said; "You're either very creative or very disastrous when you're not you". - Love
In several posts I have discussed how friendship and love are some of the highest forms of selfishness not selflessness as people frequently assume. One chooses another as a friend because he values that other more than mere strangers.