Just when you thought flicks about employment-challenged
losers who can’t get laid had reached their peak, “Step Brothers” was created
to reunite former “Talladega Nights” co-stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly
for more slapstick comedy and unflattering shirtless scenes. The story lies in
the relationship between two slackers still living with their parents:
39-year-old man-child Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and an equally aged and
ambitionless Dale Doback (Reilly). When Brennan’s mom (Mary Steenburgen) and
Dale’s dad (Richard Jenkins) decide to get hitched, Huff and Doback are forced
to cram their loose lifestyles under one roof and share a room. While it takes
several scenes of territorial ass-kicking for the step brothers to get used to
one another, they eventually learn they have a lot in common (like
velociraptors and would bone John Stamos).

However, their newly formed friendship is dampened when
their parents decide the duo needs to grow up and get out. As Huff and Doback
team up to find jobs and independence, their immature attitudes test the
professional world’s limits, grabbing laughs in crash-and-burn interview scenes
and warming our hearts with moments of brotherly love. If you’re bummed about
spending summer with your parents, “Step Brothers” is sure to make you feel way
more accomplished than you actually are, and might even provide some mindless
entertainment along the way. July 25.