Step Brothers is probably the out-and-out raunchiest of the movies made by Will Ferrell and director/co-writer Adam McKay. Where their previous collaborations like Anchorman and Talledega Nights had their moments, they were more about gleaning the comedy from a collection of characters more than trying to get a laugh from, say, Ferrell rubbing his testicles on John C. Reilly’s drumset (and no, that’s not a metaphor - it’s a set of drums).
But Step Brothers is extremely funny if you go along for the ride. All of the sequences seen in the trailers play out even better when surrounded by the supporting material. Watching Ferrell hit Reilly in the face with a shovel and then try to bury him alive, for instance, was all over the marketing but actually works better in the film itself.
The thing that makes it funnier than it probably should be is that the actors are so committed to their characters. That’s the same secret ingredient that makes Anchorman and the other films work so well and it’s in good supply here.
