Not Approved

Step Brothers

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, who last teamed in the box-office smash "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," now star in "Step Brothers," directed by Adam McKay ("Talladega Nights"). In "Step Brothers," Ferrell plays Brennan Huff, a sporadically employed thirty-nine-year-old who lives with his mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). Reilly plays Dale Doback, a terminally unemployed forty-year-old who lives with his father, Robert (Richard Jenkins). When Robert and Nancy marry and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. As their narcissism and downright aggressive laziness threaten to tear the family apart, these two middle-aged, immature, overgrown boys will orchestrate an insane, elaborate plan to bring their parents back together. To pull it off, they must form an unlikely bond that maybe, just maybe, will finally get them out of the house.
20
Negative Rating
12345
SexLanguageViolenceDrugsNudityOther
0
Positive Rating
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FaithIntegrity

Dove Review

This movie produces some very funny moments, with Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C. Reilly) both acting like 12-year olds instead of their age, which happens to be forty. They don Chewbacca masks from “Star Wars” and act like pirates and get upset at each other like kids and have fun together like kids. They go on an interview together and totally blow any chance they have of landing a job.

But this movie is as far from being a family-friendly film as the earth is from the moon. It is loaded with strong profanities, a simulated sex act (although no nudity is seen), one scene in which a man’s scrotum is seen, and enough innuendos to make viewers uncomfortable. Therefore, we are unable to award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this movie.

Dove Rating Details

0
Faith

None

0
Integrity

Some fist fights; one character is punched in the face and he falls from a tree house and another one is hit in the head with a drum cymbal; a bloody scene is shown from a movie on TV; two characters use baseball bat and golf club on each other; kids from school beat up on two men and later the two men beat up on the kids although it's obviously a farce; a character hoses down two fighting characters.

3
Sex

A simulated sex act of adultery in the men's bathroom although there's no nudity; a couple of times it is apparent a character is masturbating; a lot of sexual innuendos and comments throughout the movie including comments about a woman's breasts.

5
Language

Too many profanities to list; biblical profanity; innuendos and slang and the F word are used non-stop throughout the film.

2
Violence

Some fist fights; one character is punched in the face and he falls from a tree house and another one is hit in the head with a drum cymbal; a bloody scene is shown from a movie on TV; two characters use baseball bat and golf club on each other; kids from school beat up on two men and later the two men beat up on the kids although it's obviously a farce; a character hoses down two fighting characters.

3
Drugs

References to drugs; a character says he just smoked a "J"; a character writes "I Love Crystal Meth" on another character's t-shirt; wine and beer drinking; a reference to being high.

4
Nudity

A man's scrotum is seen on-screen as he places it on a drum set; cleavage; shirtless men.

3
Other

To scare off people from buying their house, Brennan and Dale dress up like a Nazi neighbor and a member of the Ku Klux Klan; a lot of disrespect and negative comments made by the sons to their parents.

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