The Title of this post is both an homage to one of the two movies starring Will Ferrel and directed by Adam McKay which I enjoyed and an indictment of the latest collaboration of the two. The I love lamp reference is pretty obvious if you've seen Anchorman and the question mark after the title is a reference to Ron Burgundy saying I'm Ron Burgundy as a question when reading his name off the teleprompter. The other Will Ferrel/Adam McKay movie which I did not reference was Talladega Nights. I understand why some people despise those two movies as I am in agreement on some of the criticisms, but there were some really funny parts that more than made up for their shortcomings. That said Step Brothers, the third film from Will Ferrel and Adam McKay, had too many shortcomings and not enough laughs for me to recommend it.It was maybe four or five months ago when an old friend of mine got in touch with me after I had not talked to her in a few years. We planned to get together to catch up. I was extremely excited when I learned that there was a double feature playing at the local drive-in. I understand that the drive-in usually has a double feature so that was not what excited me nor was it the surprising revelation that there were still drive-in movie theaters. What excited me was that the first movie was Pineapple Express and the second movie was Step Brothers. Note added after the fact in case you are reading this it is not an indication of my lack of excitement over catching up with my old friend that I mentioned being extremely excited over the lineup at the drive-in and not over catching up with my old friend. I was equally excited over both. Well maybe slightly more enthusiastic about the movie lineup. (Just kidding)
I had seen all the trailers for both of these films. I was a fan of the stars and the writers of each of the films so I was really excited. Thankfully I figured my friend would be up for this as I remembered that she had a pretty good sense of humor. She agreed and we were on our way. She was...Oh wait I lost track of my thought process and began typing an old Will Smith song. That is the sort of thing that happens when you are trying to blog and watch tv at the same time. Anyway back to the point of this post if there is one. Yes I remember we went to the drive-in. I won't go into detail but Pineapple Express was everything I expected and more. Often when watching a comedy I find myself having to overlook the plot, the acting, the directing and many other aspects of the movie as long as it is funny. This is usually the case in a Will Ferrel movie for example. There really is not much I would complain about regarding Pineapple Express. There is the usual complaint about films from the Judd Apatow Universe of films in that they usually have an average looking at best guy who really has nothing going for him in his life, but he somehow manages to have an extremely attractive girlfriend. See also Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which I have not seen yet, but apparently the average guy in that movie gets two beautiful women). See also Knocked Up. Being a man of average looks who really doesn't have a lot going for him I don't have a problem with this sort of thing, but I can understand the complaint. Ok that was actually more detail than I planned on and I managed to mix in some self-depractation that wasn't really even that funny so I will leave the description of Pineapple Express at that.
So after watching Pineapple Express I was ready for more of the same with Step Brothers. I realized it would probably not be as complete a movie as Pineapple Express, but I expected a simliar amount of laughs if not more. By the end of the movie I was looking at my watch, yawning and trying to stretch my legs. By the end of the movie there were not many cars left in the drive-in. This could be because of the nature of the drive-in in general. Not everyone goes to the drive-in to watch the movie and three plus hours sitting in your car is not exactly comfortable. Also I believe they showed all of the funniest parts in the trailers and advertisements for the movie which is why I try to avoid trailers for comedies I plan on seeing.
My friend agreed with me that Pineapple Express was really good and Step Brothers was terrible. I didn't really think much more about the movie after that, but I have since heard many people say they really liked Step Brothers. It caused me to revisit my original opinion and consider that it may not have been the movie itself that caused me to have a negative reaction to it. The setting in which I watched the film, the quality of the previous film and the fact that by the time the second movie was on my mind was in a completely different place and I was thinking of other things may have contributed to my impression of the film. Maybe it was like going to a concert where the opening act puts on a great show so you don't really appreciate the headliner. I think if the order of the two films were reversed maybe my opinion of Step Brothers would have been different although I am confident I would have still enjoyed Pineapple Express. Also I imagine that if under similar circumstances I was seeing either Talladega Nights or Anchorman for the first time in place of Step Brothers I may not have enjoyed those as much.I have decided to give the movie a second chance in the near future and try to completely forget my first impression of the movie thus attempting to disprove the old deodorant axiom stating you never get a second chance to make a first impression. So the question to ask is Do I really hate Step Brothers or am I just saying that because I saw it after Pineapple Express?
9 comments:
Well that's the last time we go to the Drive-In's (not kidding). Your friend did not agree with you that Step Brothers was terrible she thought it was an abomination that should have been aborted before even casting actors so awful they should have their genitals removed to prevent spawning stupidity. I truly hope the people who said they liked Step Brothers are alcoholics or were tripping or had recently undergone a lobotomy. If we had gone in my car there is a likely chance I would have attempted suicide but I thought it would be rude to bleed in yours. I believe (or hope) that if you saw Step Brothers again you would not be sober or be able to finish it because that movie is so awful it causes erectile dysfunction.
True story.
Oh come now... It wasn't THAT bad. Sure it wasn't the best comedy of the year but if you went in with expectations for a Will Ferrell movie then you are partially to blame. Remember, he has had such gems as "Old School" (Ear muffs), "Bewitched", "Starsky and Hutch", and "A Night at the Roxbury" that are also not amazing but fill their role in the cinematic spectrum. I would say that "Step Brothers" was every bit as good as Old School and better then any of the other movies mentioned. I did see it before either "Pineapple Express" or "Tropic Thunder" so it did have that going for it. But to try to say it was as bad a movie as say... "Dodge Ball" is just an injustice to the movie. It accomplished what it set out to do and that's all you should judge it on. It didn't try to be anything special. It didn't try to answer life's great questions or to be the cinematic masterpiece that would be the pinnacle of John C. Reilly or Ferrell's careers. It was a decent genre movie that was just more of the same that the audience came to the theater expecting. They delivered what they promised even if little more. As a film maker (sort of) I think that's all anyone ever really hopes for. To connect with your target demographic and to illicit the emotions that you attempt to draw out of them at the points where you planned. I wouldn't nominate "Step Brothers" for any awards but I would recommend it for a night at home with nothing else to watch.
It is not as good as Old School come on. I have never seen Bewitched or Starsky but I am pretty sure he isn't even in Starsky.
The problem is the only funny parts were in the trailer for the movie so you go in expecting the whole movie to be that funny and it is not.
So blame the marketing department and not the movie makers. Also, he WAS in S&H... if you doubt it IMDB it...
No blame the movie makers because if you have a movie that is in excess of 1 and a half hours it should have more than 30 seconds or a minute worth of laughs. Walk Hard is similar in that I saw the trailers for it and thought it was going to be hilarious. It had a few funny parts, but overall it was disappointing. That said it was much better than Step Brothers. The songs especially were pretty funny such as "In my mind I see you blowing me.......some kisses." or "Let's duet...in ways that make us feel good." Funny stuff
He may have been in it but it's not like he was Starsky or Hutch so it wasn't really a Will Ferrell movie. Look I am actually a fan of Mr. Ferrell A lot of people didn't like Anchorman or Talladega Nights, but I did especially Anchorman. Same with John C. Reilly I have liked him since What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I just didn't like this movie. Some movies grow on you after you watch them on cable a few times so I may eventually change my mind.
You didn't like No Country For Old Men so I have a hard time with you criticizing me for not liking Step Brothers.
Candice,
I removed the initial comments that were intended to be a joke. In retrospect they were not funny and I can see why you were upset by them. My brother is right that I invite people to comment on the blog and then I take offense much too easily at comments that were meant to be lighthearted. That is probably because I have no life and lack self confidence at times so anytime someone makes a slightly critical comment about me, my blog or someone I care about I get a little too worked up about it. Okay a lot too worked up.
Candice you are obviously one of my favorite people, but my brother is also really cool when you get to know him. Hopefully as this blog grows you will get to know each other and you will understand this. Yes he gives me shit occasionally, but I really couldn't ask for a better brother.
This will all change in the coming weeks when I launch a new blog that is hugely successful. I will no longer lack self-confidence instead I will probably become full of myself and will only occasionally read or respond to the comments of my friends and relatives.
By that time you and all of my friends who started out reading my blog will instead move to my brother's blog and you will all talk about how you tried to reach me but my assistant said I was too busy or how I said I would meet you for dinner, but I blew you off to go to P Diddy's party in the Hamptons. Well you get the idea.
Anyway the lesson as always is that I should take myself less seriously or more seriously or maybe both. I am not good with figuring out lesson or moral of a story. I thought the moral of No Country for Old Men was if you get old move to another country or else you will get killed by some crazy guy with a woman's haircut.
I thought the moral of it was don't spend $10 on a movie until you've talked to enough people to know if you are wasting your money... It was such a slow paced movie that even the chase scenes were slow. I didn't go in with the idea it was going to be an action movie but it received such hype that I probably did have my expectations set too high. I'll simply blame my brother for recommending it too strongly in the first place. I did give it several chances in between the naps it kept inducing. But when it was all said and done I had a bit of a Fargo let down. When did the Coens become Zen Buddhists? This was like a 3 hour version of The Tiger and the Strawberry. Maybe I'll get all hopped up on Red Bull and 5 Hour Energy Drinks and try to watch it again some afternoon...
Candice, nice to sort of meet you.
You didn't spend $10 on it as it was on cable. Was your point that you were disappointed because you didn't like it as much as Fargo or that you were disappointed in Fargo also? I think it was the former, but if it was the latter than it explains the whole situation as you obviously don't like good movies.
The Coen Brothers make original movies and one is never really like the other. Oh Brother Where Art Though is nothing like the Big Lebowski. No Country For Old Men is far different than Raising Arizona. The Hudsucker Proxy was retarded, but if I remember correctly you liked that one so to each his own.
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