Heeb

By Montana Leonard

I love Will Ferrell, but his latest film, Step Brothers, directed by recurring collaborator Adam McKay (Talladega Nights, Anchorman) is one giant mess. The story about two 40-year old losers who become stepbrothers when their parents get married is plagued by a predictable story (guys hate each other, love each other, lose each other, grow to love each other), unoriginal characters (Ferrell and Riley basically both seem to awkwardly channel Napoleon Dynamite) and a bunch of recycled jokes (awkward singing, unnecessary profanity, prosthetic nut sacks). (It also eerily recalls Problem Child 2.) To be sure, no one plays the blissfully ignorant man-child better than Ferrell and the sleepwalking scene here is definitely vintage Ferrell, but all too often this film feeks like six years worth of SNL sketches crammed into 90 minutes.