It\u2019s 2008. George W Bush is wrapping up his presidency. The world\u2019s economy is in turmoil, but Obama is ascendant. The US\u2019s \u2013 and the world\u2019s \u2013 problems will soon be solved once and for all.<\/p>\n
The peak comedy of this era is, of course, Step Brothers. Adam McKay\u2019s previous hit collaborations with Will Ferrell<\/a>, Anchorman and Talladega Nights, hit a rich seam of man-children being elevated to folk-hero status. We could call it a thematic trilogy, if we were being a bit pretentious \u2013 like Ingmar Bergman\u2019s faith trilogy, but with more prosthetic testicles.<\/p>\n In Step Brothers, the duo finally boil their theme down to its bare bones: two grown men in their 40s inexplicably acting like 10-year-old boys. Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (John C Reilly) are brought under one roof by the marriage of their parents (Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins). At first, they respond the way any prepubescent imps would, with territorial acrimony and spite, before forming an alliance over their mutual hatred of Brennan\u2019s brother Derek (Adam Scott).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Brennan and Dale are the epitome of what would later be known online as \u201clarge adult sons\u201d \u2013 giant, gormless failures, sheltered by low expectations. They brawl, assemble bunk beds, and destroy the lives of their retirement-aspirant parents with the destructive force of dogs who don\u2019t know their own size. These are the men of the 2000s: outsize children running rampant in a world that lets them do so.<\/p>\n Critics were displeased. \u201cAnother unashamedly juvenile comedy,\u201d wrote Guardian reviewer Peter Bradshaw<\/a>. \u201cWhen I left, I felt a little unclean,\u201d said Roger Ebert. \u201cIn its own tiny way, it lowers the civility of our civilisation.\u201d Nothing will get me in the theatre faster than an affront to civility.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Saved for Later<\/p>\n Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia’s culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n There are the prosthetic testicles, of course, and there\u2019s dog poo, farting, and raucous sex scenes. But Step Brothers transcends all that and builds its own world. It\u2019s juvenile and sublime, dumb and clever, dated and timeless.<\/p>\n Ferrell and Reilly have a unique chemistry. They are revolting and endlessly endearing, skating easily over the script\u2019s cracks. Together, they invite us to laugh at a dying breed \u2013 the coddled, mediocre man \u2013 but also celebrate him. As with McKay and Ferrell\u2019s previous films, it\u2019s a man\u2019s world. Women condemn, but are ultimately enthralled by, this masculine freedom. Steenburgen\u2019s Nancy can\u2019t help but protect her large adult son from a world that expects too much (anything) from him.<\/p>\n The film\u2019s innate irony, meanness, and childishness are the dying embers of the Gen X sensibility \u2013 a generation which, as the comedian Stewart Lee once wrote<\/a>, \u201cprofiteered from the assumption that political correctness was a done deal, and now we could have fun jumping in and out of its boundaries, like street kids round a spurting water main.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferrell at a press conference for Step Brothers, a comedy \u2018juvenile and sublime, dumb and clever, dated and timeless\u2019. Photograph: Theo Kingma\/Rex Features<\/p>\n But of course, these men weren\u2019t dying out. They were mutating into something worse: media behemoths, CEOs and presidents. The dominance of the idiot man was far from over, but it\u2019s far more cruel than innocent. The large adult sons who rule the world are still ridiculous, but they\u2019re winning.<\/p>\n This may explain why, after Step Brothers, McKay\u2019s films got angrier and more literal<\/a>. His next, the 2010 buddy-cop comedy The Other Guys, ends on an unparalleled bit of tonal whiplash, as the credits are splashed with infographic stats about the beneficiaries of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The Big Short, Vice, and Don\u2019t Look Up<\/a> are angry polemics dressed up as comedies. \u201cCan you believe they\u2019re getting away with this?\u201d he seems to be yelling at us. Yes. Yes I can.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes I think I am living in a nightmare. All about me, standards are collapsing, manners are evaporating, people show no respect for themselves.\u201d That, once again, is Roger Ebert in his 2008 review of Step Brothers. Roger, it was a beautiful dream, and one I cherish. The nightmare is now.<\/p>\n Step Brothers is available to stream on Netflix, Stan, Binge and Prime Video in Australia and available to rent in the UK and US. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s 2008. George W Bush is wrapping up his presidency. 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