In the movie “Step Brothers”, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play two grown adults living with their parents, and get this, they act like little kids...get it? Isn’t that funny?! Well actually it is, for about two scenes, then the suffering begins. Seriously this movie is terrible and the thing that gets me is I really wanted to like it. Will Ferrell is about as funny as the holocaust I know, he remakes the same movies over and over again and seems to think the only thing needed to craft a comedic performance is a slight affectation on his voice. He’s like Ted Knight in every roll he has, but somehow Ted Knight is better because you get the vibe he knows it’s bad and that’s what makes it good. But despite Ferrell I thought this would be good, I had some faith in director Adam McKay, the former SNL head writer really impressed me with his film “Anchorman”, and I had a lot of faith in producer Judd Apatow, who’s made a household name for himself as the director of “40 year old virgin”, and “Knocked up”. Sadly my faith was not rewarded, this movie is poop. Why you ask? I’ll tell you, the movie is basically one very long joke, that isn’t that funny to begin with. These adults act like children. That’s it. The opening sequences are of Reilly and Ferrell in their respective homes acting like children, their parents fall in love rapidly (and for no reason) and they get married, all this is accompanied by title cards that slowly roll out over these scenes. By the time Ferrell and Reilly meet and the title “Step Brothers” is on the screen, the joke was already old. Really, you get the whole joke by the time the “plot” is supposed to begin. Of course there barely is a plot, and the filmmakers seem to think that’s perfectly fine. That’s what really gets my goat about this whole movie, it’s the same thing that’s wrong with “Talladega Nights” and “Blades of Glory” the filmmakers think they can do whatever they want. No plot? Don’t worry it’s just a silly movie. Doesn’t make any sense? Don’t worry we’re geniuses! No character development, screen direction, jokes, pacing, tone, aesthetic, anything that makes a movie? It’s okay we’ve got Will Ferrel! Will Ferrell’s every movement reeks of pride and confidence that is undeserved, which is what really makes you dislike him. A good actor can improv without letting you know he’s doing it, somehow with Ferrel he lets you know, so you can be impressed with his “comedic genius”. What the hell happened to John C. Reilly? This is the guy we used to think about when we thought about director Paul Thomas Anderson, someone we thought of as a real actor. He played Stanley in a production of “Street car names desire” a few years ago, what happened? Does he owe a life debt to Will Ferrell, or is it just that he doesn’t want to try anymore? This movie is rated R, so you might think oh good for them, they’re going to make an adult comedy we need one of those. Well nope, it’s the same old stuff they’ve been making; they just say the F word every two minutes, to take place of a real joke. Adam McKay thinks that like forth graders we’ll just laugh at hearing people say it. Mary Steenburgen says it quite a few times, and loses my respect each time she does. Look what else can I say, this movie is bad, it’s an SNL sketch stretched out to a feature film length and just isn’t funny.