Step Brothers, Blu Ray Review

At a medical conference the eyes of a woman in the audience meet with those of the speakers, there’s an instant chemistry and soon after the talk they’re alone in a bedroom passionately embraced. As they strip they introduce themselves giving a brief description of who they are. They share all the same interests, is this a match made in heaven? Then, just as they’re about to make love, Dr Robert Doback (Richard Jenkins) announces that he has a 40 year old son that still lives with him at home. The woman, Nancy Huff (Mary Steenburgen) pulls back, Dr. Doback groans that he knows he shouldn’t have told her that, but then amazingly Nancy announces that she too has a 39 year old son living at home with her. This is a match made in heaven…….for them, but will it be for their kids too?

Written by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and John C. Reilly, directed by Adam McKay and produced by Judd Apatow, Step Brothers certainly has some of the current great comedy names attached to it. The crew have all worked together before on other films, Anchorman and Talladega Nights, so they’re no strangers to each other, and they keep getting better and better together. Step Brothers also reunites Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in front of the camera for the first time since Talladega Nights. They had an instant comedy chemistry in that film and it’s no different here.

After their two respective parents get married the two lazy, jobless, childish sons, Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) are forced to live together, in fact share a room. Initially the two hate each other and much comedy ensues as they lock horns. Then united by a common hatred of Brennan’s younger, and very successful, brother, the two find the glaringly obvious, that they have a lot in common, and become best friends. Dr. Doback and Nancy however share a common dream, to retire and sail around the world, but they can’t do that with two dependant sons. Time to get them to grow up, get careers and leave the nest.

If the idea of two men in their forties acting like 12-year olds (actually quite immature 12-year olds) isn’t your idea of comedy gold then you probably won’t enjoy this film. If you don’t mind a bit of inane childish comedy, then you’ll love this. It’s Will Ferrell’s usual, over the top shtick, but dialed up a notch or two with Reilly as his foil. The two seem to bounce off each other perfectly culminating in some memorable comedy moments. The story concept, whilst not being particularly believable, is comedy gold and is mined for all it’s worth. The change from enemies to best friends freshens things up in the films middle, where they could’ve gotten bogged down in just more of them fighting. For me though, it isn’t Ferrell or Reilly that steal the show. Brennan’s younger brother’s wife, Alice (Kathryn Hahn), turns in a comedy performance that puts the cherry on top.

This Blu ray is presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio in full 1080p HD. The image is very clean with no evidence of digital artifacts. Detail and contrast are very good but the colours just don’t quite ‘pop’ as you’d like them too. Don’t get me wrong, with this Blu Ray you’ll get a great looking film, it just won’t quite make it into your reference material section. In the sound department we’re treated with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. There’s not a lot of surround sound action to be had here, it’s not a film that’s going to give a surround sound system a good work out, all that’s required is that the dialogue comes through clear and crisp and here it does very well. Again, not reference quality, but then a quick-fire comedy was never going to be, so it would be unfair to expect it to live up to the total immersion of a well-scored action film.

The extras are plentiful and quite interesting. There’s the usually commentary, but this time it’s actually very entertaining and funny. Other standard features include a making of feature and a ‘the music of…’ feature that are quite interesting if you’re particularly interested in the behind the scenes action. The power of Blu Ray allows the inclusion of extras such as the Boats ‘n’ Hoes music video editor, which allows you to be in the editing chair of the Boats ‘n’ Hoes video that Brennan and Dale shoot in the film. There are extended/alternate scenes, gag reel and some alternate one liners for certain jokes. There’s the full version of the Prestige Worldwide business pitch as well as the full version of the Boats ‘n’ Hoes rap video. All in all a pretty good extras tally.

I can’t admit to being a great fan of Will Ferrell comedies. I keep getting drawn back in by funny looking trailers only to be disappointed by the final film. This time round I was blissfully oblivious of the film and was therefore pleasantly surprised. In my opinion Ferrell and Reilly belong together as a comedy pairing. It’s like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor (but a lot more childish!). If you enjoy some silly comedy now and then there are some real laugh out loud moments here. In particular watch out for the ending when the two get revenge on the children that have been bullying them, absolutely hilarious!

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