August 24, 2008 (I think): Step Brothers.
I watched Step Brothers. I admit it. This movie was judged by a friend to not be suitable for spending money to see in the theatre. This friend was correct.
I’m a devotee of the current flood of Judd Apatow movies, even though only a handful of them have been really solid. The thing is, there are usually enough really funny bits to let the sometimes flimsy “high concept” plots skate by. Superbad and Knocked Up are solid. The 40-Year-Old Virgin was uneven, but my love of Catherine Keener and all the supporting players filling in the gaps really helped it to come together. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story had lots to work with, and was wildly uneven but had moments of “inspired hilarity”, as a full-assed movie reviewer might note. There were some funny bits in this one, but the one-note concept really strains to make it to feature length. Richard Jenkins as the father and Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen (1980 Best Supporting Actress – Melvin and Howard) tipped this one into tolerable territory, because there wasn’t much holding it together.
I run hot and cold on Will Ferrell. His SNL-performing days came after my SNL-watching days, so I only knew him in bits and pieces from that, and most of that seemed to be those horrible cheerleaders. I don’t know what made the youth of today (or, actually, a decade ago) think that was funny. Anyway, I liked his bit part in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, the big breakout in Anchorman (after I revisited it a few years later), Talladega Nights (although that’s one for a whole separate review), Old School was OK, Elf was weird…you get the picture. I would very much like to see Stranger than Fiction. Anyway, this material was indeed well-suited to him – angry and profane man-child!
I like John C. Reilly. He really came to light for me in various Paul Thomas Anderson films (Boogie Nights, Magnolia), and I’ve enjoyed seeing him ascend to co-star and even star status (Talladega Nights and Walk Hard, respectively). He seems well-suited to the man-child routine as well, even if he’s a bit more abrasive without the charm when doing it.
The trouble just seems to be that movies like this feel the need to have a plot. I don’t know, maybe they would be worse if they didn’t. But for some reason there’s always some story arc where the characters become no longer the seriously-flawed caricatures they were when they started out, charm their friends/enemies/families/teachers/colleagues/etc, maybe get together with a girl, meet with some completely unbelievable business or social success providing the money or leg-up they require, and all turns out well. It would be nice if there was some feasible commercial packaging of, say, three half-hour short films together, which could let these concepts play out at their natural scale.
Anyway, I’ll keep coming back for the Apatow stuff, although I certainly can’t recommend it for everyone.
Post a Comment