Step Brothers (film)
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| Step Brothers | |
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 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Adam McKay |
| Produced by | Jimmy Miller Judd Apatow Adam McKay (exec.) Will Ferrell (exec.) |
| Written by | Screenplay: Adam McKay Will Ferrell Story: Adam McKay Will Ferrell John C. Reilly |
| Starring | Will Ferrell John C. Reilly Richard Jenkins Mary Steenburgen Adam Scott Kathryn Hahn Rob Riggle |
| Music by | Jon Brion |
| Cinematography | Oliver Wood |
| Editing by | Brent White |
| Studio | Relativity Media The Apatow Company Gary Sanchez Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 25, 2008 |
| Running time | Theatrical cut 98 min. Unrated cut 105 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Budget | $65,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $185,914,686 (worldwide) |
Step Brothers is a 2008 slapstick buddy-comedy film directed by Adam McKay, produced by Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller, and stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, who last teamed up in Talladega Nights (2006). The screenplay was written by Ferrell and McKay, from a story written by Ferrell, McKay and Reilly. The film was released theatrically on July 25, 2008, and on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 2, 2008.
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[edit] Plot
39-year-old Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and 40-year-old Dale Doback (Reilly) are two unemployed men who still live with and are reliant on their family (Brennan lives with his divorced mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and Dale with his widower father, Robert (Richard Jenkins)), have no intention of moving out or finding jobs and behave very childishly. Robert and Nancy, upon meeting during a work conference, are soon married and move in together, forcing Brennan and Dale to live with each other as step brothers; they are resentful and display a childish dislike towards each other.
Dale warns Brennan not to touch his drum set, but Brennan does so anyway. As tensions escalate, Brennan rubs his testicles (described by Ferrell in the DVD audio commentary as "$25,000 of prosthetic balls") over Dale's drums. This ignites a huge fight and in response, their parents declare that their sons must find jobs and see therapists or else be forced out of the house. Brennan's successful, conceited biological younger brother Derek (Adam Scott) comes to visit with his oddly perfect family. Dale retreats to his tree house where he and Brennan read pornography. Derek drops by to mock them, and incites Dale to punch Derek in the face, which Dale actually does, knocking Derek out of the tree. Brennan is awed by the fact that Dale was able to stand up to Derek. Brennan's sister-in-law, Alice (Kathryn Hahn), meanwhile, finds Dale's courage arousing, and becomes infatuated with him. Brennan and Dale realise they have a lot in common and become best friends.
They take job interviews, at which they perform poorly, being rude to their two potential employers and offending a third (Seth Rogen) when Dale passes gas. Brennan and Dale decide to start their own entertainment company called "Prestige Worldwide." However their parents reveal that they are going to retire to sail the world in Robert's beloved boat, and allow Derek to sell the house, forcing Dale and Brennan to find other living arrangements. However, Dale and Brennan sabotage Derek's plans by masquerading as a Neo-Nazi and a Klansman, and by pretending that Brennan has died of asbestos poisoning, while Derek shows the house to potential buyers. At Derek's birthday party, Alice forces herself on Dale in the men's bathroom. Back at the dinner table, Brennan and Dale premiere Prestige Worldwide's first music video ("Boats 'n Hoes"), filmed on Robert's boat. The video ends when the boat crashes into the rocks, and a furious Robert spanks Brennan upon arriving home.
On Christmas Eve, the boys destroy the family's tree and gifts during a bout of sleepwalking, and subsequently attack Robert after he attempts to wake them. Angered to his limit, Robert decides to divorce Nancy. Dale and Brennan are angered by the divorce and blame each other, reverting to their feeling of dislike towards each other.
After another fight which resulted in attempting to bury each other alive, they go their separate ways and move into their own apartments. Brennan starts working for Derek's helicopter leasing firm and Dale works for a catering company. Brennan, wanting to reunite the broken family, takes the initiative to arrange Derek's sales party: The Catalina Wine Mixer, supervised by Randy. The party is a success, and Brennan wins Randy's respect and approval. However, the band that Brennan booked, a (strictly 80's) Billy Joel tribute band, insults guests after being heckled to play non-80's Joel and is thrown off stage. Derek blames Brennan for this incident, and quickly fires him, believing that this incident will ruin his reputation. Robert, realizing that Brennan and Dale are miserable, encourages them to be themselves again and go for their dream. Brennan and Dale take the stage as Prestige Worldwide and perform "Por Ti Volare" with Brennan on vocals and Dale on drums. The audience is moved by the performance, and tensions between the family members are alleviated.
Dale and Brennan go on to form a successful company that runs karaoke bars and restaurants. Robert and Nancy reunite and move back into their old home, with a new tree house made from the destroyed boat just for Dale and Brennan.
[edit] Cast
- Will Ferrell as Brennan Huff
- John C. Reilly as Dale Doback
- Richard Jenkins as Dr. Robert Doback
- Mary Steenburgen as Nancy Huff-Doback
- Adam Scott as Derek Huff
- Kathryn Hahn as Alice Huff
- Elizabeth Yozamp as Tiffany Huff
- Andrea Savage as Denise
- Rob Riggle as Randy
- Logan Manus as Chris Gardocki
- Lurie Poston as Tommy
- Ken Jeong as Employment Agent
- Wayne Federman as Don (Blind Man)
- Abigail Wagner as Erica (Store Owner)
- Carli Coleman as First homebuyer wife
- Brandon T. Webb as First homebuyer husband
- Phil LaMarr as Second homebuyer husband
- Matt Walsh as Drunk corporate guy
- Seth Rogen as Sporting Goods Store Manager
- Horatio Sanz as Singer at the Catalina Wine Mixer
- Gillian Vigman as Pam
[edit] Reception
The film has received mixed reviews. As of January 2009, the film has a 55% rating based on reviews from critics at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, giving the movie a "rotten" overall review. At the website MetaCritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a mixed rating of 51/100 based on 33 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 1 1/2 out of 4 stars.
Step Brothers, as of January 2009, has grossed $100,468,793 domestically, and an additional $27 million internationally.[1]
[edit] DVD release
The film was released in a single-disc rated edition, a single-disc unrated edition and a 2-disc unrated edition on December 2, 2008 making $23.04m off 1,316,053 DVD units. As per the latest figures, the film has sold 3,358,000 units which translates to $58,017,256 in revenue (rental/Blu-ray not included).[2]
[edit] Possible sequel
Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly talked about a sequel on TheUrbanDaily.com. Reilly had the idea that they adopt children together. [3] [4]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Step Brothers at the Internet Movie Database
- Step Brothers at Allmovie
- Step Brothers at Box Office Mojo
- Step Brothers at Rotten Tomatoes
- Scoring Session Photo Gallery ScoringSessions.com
- Step Brothers Trailer playnetworks.net
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