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54-521: Step Brothers is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Adam McKay , produced by Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow , and written by Will Ferrell and McKay from a story by Ferrell, McKay, and John C. Reilly . It follows Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly), two grown men who are forced to live together as brothers after their single parents, with whom they still live, marry each other. Richard Jenkins , Mary Steenburgen , Adam Scott , and Kathryn Hahn also star. Ferrell notably sings " Por Ti Volaré " during
108-723: A camp sensibility lay behind the successful Carry On films , while in America subversive independent film-maker John Waters made camp films for college audiences with his drag queen friends that eventually found a mainstream audience. The success of the American television show Saturday Night Live drove decades of cinema with racier content allowed on television drawing on the program's stars and characters, with bigger successes including Wayne's World , Mean Girls , Ghostbusters and Animal House . Parody and joke-based films continue to find audiences. While comedic films are among
162-418: A happy ending , with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre . Some of the earliest silent films were slapstick comedies , which often relied on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they could be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music
216-468: A music video , "Boats 'N Hoes", which they filmed on Robert's boat without his knowledge. The presentation backfires when the video shows the boat crashing, shattering Robert and Nancy's sailing dreams and straining their marriage. On Christmas , Robert and Nancy announce they are getting divorced, upsetting Brennan and Dale, who blame each other. Brennan and Dale go their separate ways, live independently and gradually become functioning adults. Brennan gets
270-505: A 1970 American documentary, features audio commentary from directors Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin , along with collaborator Stanley Goldstein. The 2006 Fade to Red: Tori Amos Video Collection , a double DVD set, has commentary from Tori Amos on each video. The 2011 Broadway revival of Godspell featured a downloadable ten-part audio commentary series from composer Stephen Schwartz and director Daniel Goldstein, who "discuss their process and personal experiences of creating
324-406: A 2014 interview with Collider, McKay indicated the door was still open for a Step Brothers sequel at some point, while making clear it wasn't a short-term development priority, stating: We have a whole story [for Step Brothers 2 ], an outline that we're happy with. We were ready to go, and you know the story of [how] we got the call on Anchorman 2 . We're not gonna do it now 'cause we just did
378-636: A Train , On the Waterfront and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly . Leonard Maltin has also offered commentary on several films including, Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera , and The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection (volume 2). Hong Kong action cinema expert Bey Logan is a frequent commenter for Asian films , including Fist of Fury , The Banquet , Iron Monkey , Musa and Bullet in
432-416: A favorable reaction, and his commentary on King Kong is considered to ultimately have started the trend. Haver went on to provide commentaries for Criterion for the rest of his life. Excerpt of Haver's commentary for King Kong : Hello, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Ronald Haver, and I'm here to do something which we feel is rather unique. I'm going to take you on a lecture tour of King Kong as you watch
486-459: A fight erupts between them. They are grounded with no television for a week and are ordered to find jobs within a month or be evicted. When Brennan's arrogant classist younger brother Derek, a successful helicopter leasing agent, visits with his family, he openly ridicules Dale and Brennan, and Dale punches him in the face. Brennan is awed that Dale stood up to Derek, while Derek's discontented wife Alice finds Dale's courage attractive, and begins
540-564: A job at Derek's helicopter leasing firm and volunteers to oversee a prestigious event, the Catalina Wine Mixer. He hires the catering company that employs Dale and invites Robert and Nancy to attend. The party goes well until the lead singer of the hired Billy Joel cover band loses his temper with a heckler and is hustled away. Derek blames Brennan for the fiasco and fires him. Robert encourages Brennan and Dale to be their eccentric child-at-heart selves again and perform to save
594-440: A pattern of disrespect... Their contempt towards women is simply unforgivable." The Catalina Wine Mixer event depicted in the film was not a real event that existed before or during the creation of the film. The event has since been created and hosted on Catalina Island on Descanso Beach. McKay announced on Twitter in 2011 that production of a Step Brothers rap album featuring Ferrell and Reilly had begun, but later said that
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#1732782958743648-475: A pretty fun one. He added that Ferrell and Reilly's characters would be mature and have jobs. "One of them's married and has a kid. They're still kind of goofballs but they've taken three or four steps. Then we have an idea for something happens that knocks him back to square one, and one of the brothers, John C. Reilly sort of instigates it, like 'we can't take this anymore.' And things go really bad, their lives kind of fall apart. They have to pull it back together
702-470: A separate genre, but rather, provides a better understanding of the film. Audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add information which otherwise would not be disclosed to audience members. The Criterion Collection introduced audio commentary on
756-479: A sequel to Step Brothers . In November 2020, Reilly said in an interview on Conan of a sequel: Like a lot of artists, all three of us felt like 'Unless we were really sure we could make a better version or improve on what it is, let's leave it alone.' Sequels are hard to pull off. Comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor . These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have
810-604: A sequel, I don't wanna get into the sequel business too much. It was kind of a novelty to do one of them and it was certainly very interesting and I had never done anything like it. So I want to go make some original movies—or you know, The Big Short is an adaptation but do some different stuff. But who knows? 2–3 years, 3–4 years. I mean the funny thing with Step Brothers is if those guys are in their 50s it still works, so we could easily return to that, but for now no sequels. In February 2017, Ferrell said in an interview with Rolling Stone that there are currently no plans for
864-443: A sexual affair with him, unbeknownst to Derek. Brennan and Dale bond over their shared tastes and interests, particularly music. Brennan had given up singing after Derek and his friends jeered his performance in a school musical. Robert, meanwhile, schedules several job interviews for them, but they perform poorly and then are attacked on their way home by school children. Robert and Nancy reveal that with Derek's help they plan to sell
918-423: A successful entertainment company that owns six karaoke bars and two karaoke restaurants. As a Christmas surprise, Robert has turned his boat into a tree house for Brennan and Dale to play in, complete with hats and masks. Denise, who has come to the dinner with Brennan, admires the way he looks in a pirate hat. During the ending credits, Dale and Brennan exact their revenge on the schoolyard bullies. Step Brothers
972-436: A total of $ 128,107,642. Step Brothers received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 55% based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 5.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, " Step Brothers indulges in a cheerfully relentless immaturity that will quickly turn off viewers unamused by Ferrell and Reilly -- and delight those who find their antics hilarious." On Metacritic ,
1026-697: Is an audio track that is downloaded before going to a movie theater, and then played back on your device while watching the film. American director Kevin Smith was one of the first filmmakers to provide this feature with Clerks II . Rian Johnson provided in-theater commentary for The Brothers Bloom , Looper and Knives Out . John August also used in-theater commentary for The Nines . When complete seasons of TV series are released to DVD and Blu-ray boxsets, they often include audio commentary. Older classic shows like The Twilight Zone The Monkees , Night Gallery , The Brady Bunch , Dennis
1080-870: Is primarily known for his audio commentaries of American classic cinema, most notably Casablanca , Gone with the Wind and Frankenstein . John Fricke has recorded, or participated in, several audio commentaries for Judy Garland 's films, including The Wizard of Oz , Babes in Arms , Easter Parade , For Me and My Gal , Girl Crazy , Meet Me in St. Louis , and The Pirate . Film critics are also frequent contributors to commentaries like: American film critic Roger Ebert who recorded DVD audio commentary tracks for many classic films, including Citizen Kane and Casablanca , and Richard Schickel who has provided commentary for Double Indemnity , Strangers on
1134-512: Is sort of the basic structure." McKay has also said that ideas that were not used in the first film may be used in the sequel. McKay spoke to Empire in February 2014 and appeared to rule out a sequel to Anchorman 2 or Step Brothers saying, "No, that's the last sequel we're gonna do. There's nothing more fun to me than new characters and a new world. And now we're releasing this alt version, we're totally satisfied. No Anchorman 3 ." In
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#17327829587431188-780: The Boston Globe wrote, "'Step Brothers' is crudely funny, which means that sometimes it's crudely hilarious and more often it's just crude." Variety critic John Anderson wrote, "the film is funny at times but lapses into the reflexive vulgarity that seems to be the default mechanism of the Apatow machinery." In the British Film Institute 's 2012 Sight & Sound polls of the greatest movies ever made, The Snowtown Murders and Macbeth director Justin Kurzel named Step Brothers one of his 10 favorite films. In
1242-562: The LaserDisc format, which was able to accommodate multiple audio tracks . The first commentary track, for the 1933 film King Kong , was recorded by Ronald Haver , a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art , and was inspired by the stories Haver told while supervising the film-to-video transfer process. Criterion expected that the commentary would only be of interest to serious film students. It received
1296-464: The Vietnam War . Director Mel Brooks discusses in his audio commentary for Young Frankenstein how the movie was turned down by Columbia Pictures because its 2 million dollar budget was too high. He also points out the homages in his film, in relation to the history of Frankenstein movies. Director Oliver Stone in his audio commentary for Wall Street , explains how his family influenced
1350-628: The Broadway revival". Video game developers have also included audio commentaries in their games. Unlike DVD commentaries, in-game prompts are used to allow players to activate a relevant audio commentary for a specific area in the game. Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo is believed to be the earliest video game with audio commentary. Other select video games with commentary include: Portal , Alan Wake , Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition , Deus Ex Human Revolution Director's Cut , Grim Fandango Remastered , Day of
1404-628: The DVD release of Queen 's Greatest Video Hits 2 , which features music videos with audio commentary, band members Brian May and Roger Taylor reflect on their memories and opinions of each video. On the 20th Anniversary Remastered Edition of Paul's Boutique , the Beastie Boys provide their insights on a downloadable hour long audio commentary, which offers "rambling" revelations into album characters like Johnny Ryall . The 2000 Criterion DVD re-release of The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter ,
1458-762: The Head . Animation historian Jerry Beck has recorded dozens of audio commentaries for animation productions, including Sinbad the Sailor and the Looney Tunes Golden Collection series, and historian Michael Barrier also regularly contributes commentary to selected shorts in DVD packages, including the Popeye the Sailor DVD series, and for the first five Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD box sets. In-theater audio commentary
1512-566: The Menace , Star Trek: The Original Series , Groucho Marx 's You Bet Your Life , The Abbott and Costello Show , and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour have all featured audio commentaries by the cast, crew members and special guest stars. Modern classics with commentaries from the creators, writers, directors and cast include (select few): Everybody Loves Raymond , One Tree Hill , Second City Television , Smallville , The Sopranos , Arrested Development , Buffy
1566-641: The Tentacle Remastered , BioShock: The Collection , Firewatch , Duke Nukem 3D : 20th Anniversary World Tour , and Half-Life: Alyx . Controversy surrounded the audio commentary on Criterion's 1991 laserdisc release of the first three James Bond films, Dr. No , From Russia with Love and Goldfinger . Eon Productions notified Criterion of "185 statements in the audio commentaries which they considered to be 'inaccurate, insensitive, inflammatory or potentially libelous'". The audio tracks featured commentary from various members of
1620-868: The Vampire Slayer , Sex and the City , Will & Grace , Game of Thrones , It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , Seinfeld and Friends . Animated TV series are also a genre that frequently provide audio commentaries, which include: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Nickelodeon 's SpongeBob SquarePants . Classic cartoons include: The Flintstones , The Jetsons , and Tom and Jerry which have all been released with audio commentaries. Adult and cult classics with audio commentaries from creators, writers, directors and cast include: South Park , Beavis and Butt-Head , Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force . On
1674-483: The audio commentary for his documentary. In the commentary for True Romance , Quentin Tarantino , who wrote the film script, explains why he didn’t direct the movie himself, and the inspiration behind him writing the script. For The Goonies audio track, many of the original cast members, Sean Astin , Josh Brolin , Corey Feldman and Martha Plimpton , along with director Richard Donner , reunited and watched
Step Brothers (film) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1728-432: The film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A to F. Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars and stated, "When did comedies get so mean? Step Brothers has a premise that might have produced a good time at the movies, but when I left, I felt a little unclean". Ty Burr in
1782-515: The film industry due to their popularity. In The Screenwriters Taxonomy (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story, and therefore, the labels "drama" and "comedy" are too broad to be considered a genre. Instead, his taxonomy argues that comedy is a type of film that contains at least a dozen different sub-types. A number of hybrid genres have emerged, such as action comedy and romantic comedy . The first comedy film
1836-400: The film together, offering their opinions on the classic comedy film. Film directors can also provide their perspective into how a film is made. In his commentary for the 1970 film M*A*S*H , director Robert Altman gives background information on production and on the way the script was used and misused. He also comments on problems he had with the studio in relation to the connection with
1890-753: The film's climactic scene while Reilly plays drums. The film was released by Sony Pictures Releasing on July 25, 2008, two years after Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby . Both films feature the same main actors, as well as the same producing and writing team. It grossed $ 128.1 million and received mixed reviews. 39-year-old Brennan Huff and 40-year-old Dale Doback are immature adults still living at home. Brennan lives with his divorced mother, Nancy, and Dale lives with his widowed father, Robert. Robert and Nancy meet, fall in love, and marry, forcing Brennan and Dale to live together as step brothers . Brennan and Dale initially despise each other, and after Brennan defies Dale's order not to touch his drum set ,
1944-498: The film. The laserdisc technology offers us this opportunity and we feel it's rather unique — the ability to switch back and forth between the soundtrack and this lecture track. DVDs, Blu-rays, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays have made audio commentary a key component of special features. They often include commentary from cinematographers, screenwriters, actors, producers, directors, film historians, film critics and subject matter experts. For example, American cinematographer Garrett Brown ,
1998-458: The filmmakers, offers his anecdotes about the film. The box set of The Ultimate Matrix Collection , has two audio commentaries on each film, one by philosophers who loved it; Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilber , and one by critics who hated it; Todd McCarthy , John Powers and David Thomson . The DVD release of Ghostbusters contains a video commentary track with director Ivan Reitman , Harold Ramis , and Joe Medjuck , with silhouettes of
2052-420: The house, retire and travel the world on Robert's sailboat . They also sign Brennan and Dale up for therapy and set up bank accounts for them to live off of until they find work. Brennan falls in love at first sight with his therapist, Denise, but the attraction is not mutual. At Derek's birthday party, Dale and Brennan present a pitch video for their entertainment company , "Prestige Worldwide", that includes
2106-522: The inventor of the steadicam , is featured throughout the audio commentary track for The Shining , where he discusses his work with the ground-breaking technology. The DVD of the science-fiction movie Sunshine , directed by Danny Boyle , contains an audio track with English physicist and professor of particle physics Brian Cox . In the cast commentary for The Silence of the Lambs , former F.B.I. criminal profiler John Douglas , an advisor to
2160-560: The making of the film, and speaks candidly about the actors, mildly criticizing them, particularly Charlie Sheen . In his commentary for the 2003 film Shattered Glass , director Billy Ray is joined by New Republic editor Chuck Long, who explains the differences between the film and the actual event. Ray, in his directorial debut, also admits his lack of experience, and how he relied on more experienced members of his production crew. Director Francis Ford Coppola in his audio commentary about his epic film The Godfather , recounts how
2214-754: The most popular with audiences at the box office, there is an 'historical bias against a close and serious consideration of comedy' when it comes to critical reception and conferring of awards, such as at the Academy Awards . Film writer Cailian Savage observes "Comedies have won Oscars, although they’ve usually been comedy-dramas, involved very depressing scenes, or appealed to stone-hearted drama lovers in some other way, such as Shakespeare in Love ." According to Williams' taxonomy , all film descriptions should contain their type (comedy or drama) combined with one (or more) sub-genres. This combination does not create
Step Brothers (film) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2268-475: The movie, Dale and Brennan make a video to pitch both Robert and Derek about investing in Prestige Worldwide, with a music video for a song titled "Boats 'N' Hoes". Since the release of the film, "Boats 'N' Hoes" has contributed to the success of the movie with over a million hits on YouTube and merchandise that references the song. A political action committee (PAC) known as the "Boats 'N' Hoes PAC"
2322-546: The opening shot with a huge explosion in the jungle was completely unintentional. Film historians are frequent contributors of audio commentary, including: Tim Lucas who has recorded numerous audio commentaries since his first, for Mario Bava 's Black Sunday ; Peter Cowie has provided commentaries for numerous DVDs of Ingmar Bergman 's films, including Wild Strawberries , written and directed by Bergman; Donald Richie has recorded commentary tracks for many Japanese films ; and respected historian Rudy Behlmer , who
2376-527: The original title of the film was supposed to be " Mario Puzo 's The Godfather", but that "no one remembers it that way", and in the 2007 DVD release of Hearts of Darkness , a documentary about the production of Apocalypse Now , Coppola explains why it's not a good idea to film a movie in the Amazon jungle. He also talks about a scene in the film where Martin Sheen was drunk and cut his hand, and relays how
2430-401: The party. The pair take the stage and Brennan sings " Por Ti Volaré " while Dale accompanies him on drums. Brennan's moving performance brings the extended family back together and entrances Denise. Dale, meanwhile, breaks off his relationship with Alice. Six months later, Robert and Nancy are back together living in their old house, while Brennan and Dale have turned "Prestige Worldwide" into
2484-431: The production crews who worked on the films. Amongst the offensive commentary; they criticized the budgets for the three films, gossiped about Sean Connery's weight gain during From Russia with Love , and "insinuated that several female costars were bad actors and had been cast solely for their looks". Additionally, when English film director Guy Hamilton was commenting about Goldfinger , which he directed, he referred to
2538-428: The rap album fell apart and will not be released. Over the years, Ferrell and Reilly have talked about a sequel . Reilly had the idea. In 2008, McKay was interviewed about a possible sequel, and said: We're kicking around the idea of Step Brothers 2 . We feel like there's way more fat to be mined there. While it is not quite the legend that Anchorman is, it has built kind of a nice following. We think it could be
2592-480: The track covers "the movie-making process [and] their characters' offscreen lives" in remarks that range "from the inspired to the irritatingly prolonged, but when Ferrell and Reilly really get into a good groove, they're actually funnier than the main feature". Step Brothers was released on 4K Blu-Ray on October 2, 2018. Step Brothers opened in 3,094 theaters and grossed $ 30.9 million. It went on to gross $ 100,468,793 domestically and $ 27,638,849 internationally for
2646-537: The trio added to imitate Mystery Science Theater 3000 . The Blu-ray edition of the film Galaxy Quest includes a tongue-in-cheek trivia commentary called "Galactopedia", by American graphic designer Michael Okuda , known for his work on Star Trek , and Denise Okuda , co-author of the Star Trek Encyclopedia . On the DVD release of Bowling for Columbine , Michael Moore allowed his interns , secretary and production assistants to record
2700-512: The use of comedy film to make social statements by building their narratives around sensitive cultural, political or social issues. Such films include Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Love the Bomb , Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and The Graduate . In America, the sexual revolution drove an appetite for comedies that celebrated and parodied changing social morals, including Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Fanny Hill . In Britain,
2754-414: Was L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895), directed and produced by film pioneer Louis Lumière . Less than a minute long, it shows a boy playing a prank on a gardener. The most notable comedy actors of the silent film era (1895–1927) were Charlie Chaplin , Harold Lloyd , and Buster Keaton , though they were able to make the transition into “ talkies ” after the 1920s. Film-makers in the 1960s skillfully employed
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#17327829587432808-417: Was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue . Comedy, compared with other film genres , places more focus on individual star actors, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to
2862-857: Was registered by Shaun Nowacki with the Texas Ethics Commission in 2014. Nowacki's firm was hired by multiple Republicans in Texas including 48th Texas Governor Greg Abbott , Dan Patrick (who was running for Lieutenant Governor), and Donna Campbell (who was campaigning for State Senator). The purpose of the PAC was never shared and was criticized by Lisa Paul, who served as the Texas Democratic Party Deputy Communications Director. Paul said, "Texas Republicans say they want to reach out to women, to be more inclusive, but actions like this reinforce
2916-519: Was released in the United States on July 25, 2008. The film was released for home video on December 2, 2008, in a single-disc rated edition, a single-disc unrated edition and a 2-disc unrated edition. The film generated sales of an estimated 3.87 million units in DVD and Blu-ray, totaling $ 63.7 million. For the home video release, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Adam McKay recorded a commentary track mostly in song, accompanied by Jon Brion ;
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