Step Brothers

"Step Brothers" is the latest film written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and directed by McKay. Their first two projects, "Anchorman" and "Talladega Nights," may have been the funniest films of the decade.

"Step Brothers" is not.

Ferrell and McKay have taken their usual manchild formula and replaced all of the witty, madcap humor with profane and unfunny jokes. "Anchorman" gave us Ferrell playing the "jazz flute" atop the tables of a restaurant. "Talladega Nights" gave us Ferrell driving a stock car with a Cougar painted on the hood next to one word: "Me."

"Step Brothers" gives us Ferrell putting his testicles on a drum kit.

That drum kit belongs to John C. Reilly, who, like Ferrell, is a 40-year-old who still lives with his single parent. When Reilly's father marries Ferrell's mother, they have to learn to live under one roof.

The setup is fine, if a little sparse. But where Ferrell and McKay once made fun of the ignorance and self-importance of the American male, they now simply drop F bombs and references to putting various things up various people's anuses.

Part of the problem is that the supporting characters have almost no humor potential at all. "Anchorman" featured Rob Cordry, Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd as Ferrell's hilarious sidekicks. "Talladega Nights" gave us a ridiculous villain played by Sacha Baron-Cohen. But "Step Brothers" just offers a shrill father, a coddling mother and Ferrell's painfully unfunny biological brother.

"Step Brothers" does have its moments. When Ferrell and Reilly put together a ridiculous tape for their start-up venture, "Prestige Worldwide," they become indignant when their father won't invest in a scheme with no ostensible purpose. The film's conclusion is also suitably silly.

But most of "Step Brothers" falls flat. Perhaps Ferrell and McKay rely a great deal on improvisation over multiple takes; that would certainly explain the hit and miss nature of this material. Between this film and the unspeakable "Semi-Pro," Ferrell is on now on a serious losing streak. We can only hope he still has some genuinely funny manchild antics left in his bag of tricks.