Blog:Step Brothers (Unofficial)

'Note: This is just my vision of what Step Brothers'' would look like if it were to have a page here. So please do not publish this.''' "I've been on a comedy kick recently, like the Edgar Right/Cornetto trilogy, The Big Lebowski, and I even watch these appalling Will Ferrell movies because I hate myself. Now where something like Shaun of the Dead or The Big Lebowski excel in comedy is the way that they are written as movies. They have characters with believable motivations, and more going on than just: 'Oh look, the joke is that Will Ferrell is a fucking manchild!', 'Oh, the joke is that they've said a swear word!', and 'Oh, the joke is that they aren't supposed to be doing that thing but ended up doing it anyway, isn't that so funny and clever?'" "- I Hate Everything (Smosh: The Movie - The Search For The Worst)"

Step Brothers is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Adam McKay, produced by Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow, and written by Will Ferrell and McKay from a story by Ferrell, McKay, and John C. Reilly. It follows Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly), two grown men who are forced to live together as brothers after their single parents, with whom they still live, marry each other. Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott, and Kathryn Hahn also star.

Plot
Brennan Huff and Dale Doback are immature adults still living at home. Brennan lives with his divorced mother, Nancy, and Dale lives with his widowed father, Robert. Robert and Nancy meet, fall in love, and get married, forcing Brennan and Dale to live with each other as step brothers.

Brennan and Dale despise each other for interfering with each other's lifestyles. Dale warns Brennan not to touch his drum kit, which Brennan later does anyway and is confronted by Dale. The argument over the drum kit erupts into a violent brawl between them. They are grounded with no television for a week following the incident and told they must find jobs within a month, or they will be evicted from the house.

When Brennan's younger and more successful brother Derek, a helicopter leasing agent, comes to visit with his family, he openly ridicules them for their lack of ambition, enticing Dale to punch him in the face. Brennan is awed that Dale stood up to Derek, while Derek's wife Alice finds Dale's courage attractive, attempting to begin a sexual affair between the two. Brennan and Dale discover their shared interests and develop a brotherly friendship.

Robert schedules several job interviews for Brennan and Dale, in which they perform poorly. Robert and Nancy reveal their plans, with help from Derek, to sell the house, retire and sail the world on Robert's boat. They also demand that Brennan and Dale attend therapy and find other living arrangements.

Dale and Brennan start an entertainment company, "Prestige Worldwide". They present their first music video, which they filmed on Robert's boat, at Derek's birthday party. The presentation backfires when the video shows the boat crashing, shattering Robert and Nancy's sailing dreams. Robert is furious and refuses to make an investment, prompting Brennan to berate Robert as Nancy attempts to calm him down. On Christmas Day, Robert announces he wants to divorce Nancy, causing Brennan and Dale to break down.

Blaming each other for the divorce, Brennan and Dale fight, then decide to go their separate ways. Brennan works for Derek's helicopter leasing firm and Dale works for a catering company. Weeks later, Brennan and Dale are living independently as functioning adults and are doing well at their new jobs.

Wanting to reunite the family, Brennan volunteers to oversee a prestigious event, the Catalina Wine Mixer, for Derek's company and invites Robert and Nancy. They hire the catering company that employs Dale. The party is a success until the lead singer of the hired band loses his temper and is ejected. With the stage empty, Derek fires Brennan, blaming him for the debacle, and Robert ultimately encourages Brennan and Dale to be their eccentric child-at-heart selves again. Brennan and Dale take the stage and perform "Por Ti Volaré". Derek is so moved by the performance that he and Brennan make amends. Dale ends his relationship with Alice, to her dismay.

Six months later, Robert and Nancy are back together living in their old house, while Brennan and Dale have turned "Prestige Worldwide" into a successful entertainment company that hosts karaoke events. Robert has his boat turned into a treehouse in the backyard. In a surprise ending, Brennan and Dale fight the school kids for revenge for tormenting them earlier on.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The concept of two unemployed man children getting along with each other can be simple, but the film's execution was too absurd.
 * 2) * It sometimes steals elements from comedies as mh:greatestmovies:Dumb and Dumber or sometimes from mh:greatestmovies:Shaun of the Dead.
 * 3) For a movie that is considered R-rated, it can't decide whether it wants to be for adults, teenagers, or for little kids. And as expected from the tone of the film, as well as its jokes, it gets way too childish and immature that it becomes tiring and stale.
 * 4) The story itself is too stupid. Just how Minions couldn't stick on what story, or tone to choose from, Step Brothers couldn't even find the right ones to choose from either: Brennan and Dale proving to their father Robert that they can be responsible grownups, importance of family, growing up or being successful.
 * 5) It can get too mean spirited and overuses the amount of screaming and swearing.
 * 6) Obnoxious and unlikable characters. Like most of the adult characters having the mental capacity of toddlers.
 * 7) * Brennan and Dale are nothing but hopeless grown-ups who both refuse to improve on their immaturity. Not to mention, they haven't learned anything by the end of the movie.
 * 8) ** While they do receive karma for their incompetency, whether that being beaten up by neighborhood children or kicked out of many interviews, it just gets rather sad than amusing or funny.
 * 9) ** Both are also very disrespectful towards their parents. They've never felt the least bit of consideration nor sympathy of the hardships and struggles that their parents have went through, instead both Brennan and Dale yell and curse at them for just doing what's best for them by their parents.
 * 10) ** Even after being called failures by their father, they don't do anything to regain the respect and handle themselves with more responsibility.
 * 11) * Derek is a narcissistic hypocrite who only bullies his older brother Brennan just for being childish, gloats how he now has a family and a successful life, claims that he is superior, but somehow cries to his mother just because Brennan punched him in the face. Thus, making him just as childish as his older brother.
 * 12) ** His colleagues at work aren't any better than Derek himself either, as they often act like stereotypical school bullies. Not to mention their dialogue: "Man-gina!" is just unprofessional.
 * 13) * Alice, while not quite as bad, she then had the desire to cheat on her husband Derek with one of the brothers.
 * 14) Majority of the terrible jokes brings the story to a halt, resulting the plot's pacing to be sluggish.
 * 15) Back to the subject of the movie being immature and childish, most of the jokes are either disgusting, sexual, or just plain crass and groan-inducing:
 * 16) * Brennan rubbing his testicles on Dale's drum set, after being told not to touch it.
 * 17) * Neighborhood kids humiliate both brothers by beating them up, and forcing them to eat dog poop. Which is very dangerous and can make you get a lot of diseases.
 * 18) * Dale farting during an interview, and said "it smelled like onions."
 * 19) * Brennan and Dale asking on what magazine they've masturbated to while talking about their hobbies and interests.
 * 20) Some gags can go on for too long.
 * 21) Mundane dialogue, such as: "Man-gina!" or "This house is a fucking prison! On this planet called BULLSHIT! In the galaxy THAT SUCKS CAMEL DICKS!"
 * 22) Despite the message being "Don't lose your inner child", it basically fell flat that it actually goes too far and encourages audiences to commit such behavior.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Hence it may be poorly executed, it does show the themes and representations of unemployment, and family issues.
 * 2) The chemistry between Brennan and Dale are very entertaining.
 * 3) Great acting from Will Ferrell and John C. Reiley.
 * 4) Nancy and Robert are characters that are likable:
 * 5) * Nancy just wants to provide support to her two sons and help them find a job.
 * 6) * Robert is a struggling father who just wants to make his two sons improve, then had his own reasons to disown them after giving the brothers too many chances.
 * 7) Funny or heartwarming moments from here and there.

Reception
Step Brothers received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 55% based on 204 reviews, with an average rating of 5.58/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Step Brothers indulges in a cheerfully relentless immaturity that will quickly turn off viewers unamused by Ferrell and Reilly -- and delight those who find their antics hilarious." At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film has a score of 51 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert gave the film 1-1/2 out of 4 stars and stated, "When did comedies get so mean? Step Brothers has a premise that might have produced a good time at the movies, but when I left, I felt a little unclean."

YouTuber I Hate Everything gave Step Brothers 1/2 a star out of 5 on Letterboxed.

Director Adam McKay was not entirely surprised the film had garnered negative reviews over the years. According to McKay himself, he and Ferrell made a movie together and wouldn't mind the negative reviews received. “We knew it would be one of the most absurd and over-the-top movies we’d done to that point. And the second you have a fart joke in a film anyone knows it’s not going to be a critic’s darling (except for Blazing Saddles of course).