Step Brothers – Blu-ray Disc Review

November 20, 2008 – 11:03 am - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Adam McKay, Adam Scott, BD-Live, John C. Reilly, Judd Apatow, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, Seth Rogen, Sony, Will Ferrell

has an average rating of 6.9 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
over 3 hours long on 2 Discs
– &
– 2008
– 98 minutes & 106 minutes (UNRATED)
– Sony
–

Overall Verdict – Recommended

Buy it for $24.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & James Segars —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is written by Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, and directed by Adam McKay, of “Anchorman“, “Talladega Nights” and fame.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of the collaboration between Ferrell and McKay. Like most McKay fans, my love for the director began with the now-classic comedy flick, Anchorman. Later, I found myself laughing quite hard at Talladega Nights, but not nearly as much as I’d hoped — though I was very excited to see John C. Reilly join the crew. My friends and I couldn’t help but wonder what the next film would be about — would it be another “RB” (Ron Burgundy/Ricky Bobby) flick, thus making a trilogy of films?

We were thoroughly excited, and surprised to see that the latest epic from the dynamic trio was slated to be about reluctantly-united stepbrothers who hated each others guts. The premise, and the cast seemed too good to be true, and the vulgarity present throughout the “red band” trailer was oh-so-amazing. Childish, sure. Irreverent? Absolutely. But, hey, that’s exactly how I like my comedies, so sue me.

In my mind, there’s no doubting it. This is hands down, Will Ferrell’s best film since Anchorman. And for John C. Reilly, he’s absolutely on fire in this movie, so much so that it’s almost hard to picture him in his more serious, indie roles.

With so many memorable scenes and lines, you will have no shortage of quoting material for years to come.

In my opinion, this ranks up there with the best of the best, Dumb and Dumber, and that’s not a statement I throw around very often. This film has instant classic written all over it.

— Opening thoughts (above) written by: James Segars —

Following up to what my co-writer (James) said about the film. I have to say the story here is actually a bit interesting even though it’s recycling at times of old formulas like that of the old film “The Parent Trap” and replacing the kids with 40-year-old virgins basically. This by all means is hilarious, don’t get me wrong in the slightest but some may look at it with some hesitation. I suggest you just sit back and take in the film as it presents itself, in a very non-serious manner. The basic premise is that these two guys who have tons in common, happen to both be around the age of 40 and still live at home with their parents get a rude awakening when their parents get married and they become “STEP BROTHERS“. If you’ve seen the trailer to the film you’re more than ready to pick up on the film’s basic premise and enjoy your way through the film. It’s at times slapstick, crude humor and just downright dim-witted but at the same time it’s pure comedic genius — in ways.

This title was full of laughs for me and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of either Ferrell, Reilly, McKay or even Producer Judd Apatow. I’d like to obviously say the performances by our leading men are great but also credit the supporting cast members like Mary Steenburgen as the mother (step-mother) and Richard Jenkins as the father (step-father). This Blu-ray Disc release of the film features both the original Theatrical and UNRATED versions of the film.

— Closing thoughts (above), video, audio & bonus (below) written by: Justin Sluss —

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte Blu-ray Disc) and presented in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. “Step Brothers” was shot on Super 35mm film using Panavision cameras and lenses which makes for a bit of a rough transition honestly here to Hi-Def. There is at times an excessive amount of film noise present as well as an obvious presence of film grain which isn’t as bothersome. The black level here is solid, fleshtones are accurate and the overall color palette is pretty vivid at times. This really doesn’t contain anything visually that has “3D-Pop” as my co-writer Brendan Surpless likes to mention or as I call it “jump off the screen at you” but it does contain a good amount of detail in the Hi-Def transfer. The overall video quality here is “up to par” with the theatrical presentation and earns a decent “4 Star Rating“. For those of you who own or owned “Talladega Nights” on Blu-ray (another Adam McKay film), you’ll be happy to know this looks a tad bit better in comparison to it.

Audio Quality on this release is in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The most important part of the audio on this release is obviously dialogue and it’s delivered very distinct throughout, I’m happy to report. The 5.1 soundscape is made up at times of the film’s music by Jon Brion with decent rear channel and bass presence. The original music in the film performed by John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell sounds great here in surround, namely the “Boats N Hoes” music video and the guys jamming on the drum set. Aside from that though, there’s really not an abundance of material that uses the 5.1 here other than obviously the music and few ocassional sound effects. That being said, this is by no means a “front heavy” sound mix. It’s what you’d expect from a comedy such as this and certainly gets the job done, earning a decent “4 Star Rating” overall for audio quality.

Bonus Materials are presented in High Definition (where noted) and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.

Disc 1 contains:

• BD-Live is included which allows users on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access downloadable content via an Internet connection.
• “Boats ‘N Hoes Music Video Editor” allows you to create your own version of the music video seen in the film. This is fairly simple to use. You press the number buttons on your remote to pick camera angles as it plays and records your own creation. Once you’ve made your own music video you can choose to save it to internal storage and even share it with friends online using BD-Live — if you’re on a Blu-ray Disc Player that is capable. This proves to be worth a laugh and fun for a tad bit.
• Audio Commentary with Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Adam McKay and special guest NBA star Baron Davis
• Deleted Scenes (9 minutes – HD) include a total of six scenes and are downright hilarious. Fans will definitely want to check this out after the film.
• Extended & Alternate Scenes (47 minutes – HD) run rather lengthy but are still very much worth the watch to those who enjoyed the film.

Disc 2 contains:

• Line-O-Rama (6 minutes – HD) includes some hilarious lines that didn’t make it into either version of the film.
• Gag Reel (4 minutes – HD) is self-explanatory and again, hilarious!
• Job Interviews (29 minutes – HD) gives us a total of ten scenes with different takes on the job interviews we see “Brennan” and “Dale” go to in the film. These prove to be the exact wrong ways to conduct job interviews but still are downright silly and worth the laugh.
• Therapy (13 minutes – HD) gives us seven total scenes (or sessions). These therapy sessions prove to be absolutely “breakthrough” for both “Dale” and “Brennan“.
• Prestige Worldwide Full Presentation (5 minutes – HD) has the guys pitching their company idea to their family in a uncut version that you didn’t see in either version of the film.
• “Boats ‘N Hoes” – Music Video (2 minutes) is only presented in 480p Standard Definition video but it’s worth putting up with to see this awesome music video in it’s entirety!
• Dale vs. Brennan (7 minutes – HD) has the guys in a verbal battle of wits; or lack there-of.
• The Making of “Step Brothers” (22 minutes – HD) includes interviews with Director Adam McKay, Producer Judd Apatow, Actors Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins. This also features tons of behind-the-scenes footage and is a genuinely awesome “making of” featurette.
• The Music of “Step Brothers” (18 minutes – HD) has an interview with Composer Jon Brion who did the camerawork in the film. Just kidding, you should have read the title more closely and maybe you’d have assumed he did the music in the film.
• Charlene Moves In (7 minutes – HD) has Judd Apatow‘s friend who you might remember from her appearance in “Knocked Up” deciding to literally move in on the set. She decides to sleep in the beds, use the fake toilets and walk in on the filming of scenes. This is obviously staged but still proves to be worth a laugh.
• L’Amour En Caravane (12 minutes – HD) has a fake little on-set romance going on between Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen. This proves to be worth a laugh but nothing too hilarious.
• Red Band Trailer (2 minutes – HD) is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround @640kbps.

Overall the bonus materials here are very enjoyable and quite lengthy too. Fans of the film will be extremely pleased with the supplemental materials they get here. I’ve grown to expect great things in terms of bonus materials when it’s a film that Judd Apatow is involved in.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

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