By Robert Scucci
| Published 14 seconds ago
Growing up with siblings is a trip because they simultaneously function as your best friend and biggest bully, blurring the lines between love and hate in a way that can be downright confusing at times. Thinking about my own brother, we would come to blows over hide-and-seek semantics, only to eventually start a band and work together toward a common goal. That kind of behavior is childish, though, and what makes 2008’s Step Brothers hold up so well is that this dynamic is explored through grown adults stuck in a prolonged state of arrested development.
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly fully commit to the assignment with their portrayals of Brennan and Dale, two fully grown man-children who are forced to share a room when their parents remarry and they have to learn how to tolerate each other. They bicker their way through their new living situation like pre-teens who are just now learning how to set boundaries and pull cruel pranks, only to slowly realize they have far more in common than either of them wants to admit. It’s an inherently stupid premise that’s dialed in just right, resulting in one of the most memorable comedies of the early aughts.
Brennan and Dale’s Hostility Is The Reason To Be
Step Brothers centers on Will Ferrell’s Brennan Huff and John C. Reilly’s Dale Doback, who waste no time butting heads when Brennan’s mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen), marries Dale’s father, Robert (Richard Jenkins). At first, their squabbles are strictly territorial. Dale doesn’t want Brennan touching his drum set, so Brennan rubs his private parts on it. Their mounting tensions eventually cause a rift in Robert and Nancy’s marriage. Despite being 39 and 40 years old respectively, Brennan and Dale get grounded and are met with an ultimatum: find jobs and learn to get along, or get kicked out of the house.
Things somehow get worse once Brennan and Dale start getting along because they’re even more unbearable when they’re united. They barge into Nancy and Robert’s bedroom in the middle of the night asking if they can build bunk beds, only to nearly kill each other in the process because they know absolutely nothing about construction. The tension escalates further when Brennan’s brother Derek (Adam Scott) enters the picture with his wife Alice (Kathryn Hahn), the latter of whom immediately begins an illicit affair with Dale.
As the dynamic completely collapses, Brennan and Dale finally realize that their behavior is driving a wedge between Robert and Nancy, who are at their wit’s end after their grown children derail their retirement plans while shooting a music video in hopes of launching their own entertainment company, Prestige Worldwide.
Boats ‘N Hoes, Shark Week, And Curly-Haired Mayhem
The main reason Step Brothers holds up as well as it does is because of how fully committed Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are to the bit. Thinking back on my own childhood, their scuffles feel painfully accurate because they’re behaving exactly like 12-year-old siblings do, and neither of them ever breaks character. The fact that they manage to keep straight faces long enough to get through most of their scenes is a testament to their commitment to the craft. If you don’t believe me, the outtakes on YouTube make it clear that even they can barely hold it together.
I would love to be a fly on the wall during Step Brothers’ production because their willingness to improvise and roll with whatever chaos unfolds feels like a masterclass in maintaining composure while filming a comedy.
If Step Brothers isn’t your favorite Will Ferrell or John C. Reilly outing, that’s totally understandable. But if you’re a fan of either performer, there are hours’ worth of cut footage floating around online and on the DVDs that are well worth checking out, especially given how many improvised reshoots took place.
As of this writing, you can stream Step Brothers for free on Tubi.