Step Brothers (15)

In many people’s eyes, Will Ferrell can do no wrong.

Since arming students across the globe with a seemingly infinite arsenal of quotes from 2004 comedy hit Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the funny man has really had nothing to prove.

But his lacklustre performance in Step Brothers (15) confirms Ferrell has been coasting on his former success for far too long.

Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and Robert (Richard Jenkins) get married after a whirlwind romance and begin to plan their dream trip around the world.

The couple decide to move in together, which forces their adult sons Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (John C Reilly) to share a room after they refuse to move out of the family home.

The pair take an instant dislike to each other and engage in a battle to end all family disputes involving bicycle attacks and heads being forced through walls.

But when their parents give them one month to find jobs and move out, the pair form an alliance and realise they have more in common than they first thought.

The beauty of Ferrell’s films is it is clear how much free improvisational rein he is given over the majority of scenes, particularly when director Adam McKay is at the helm. However, instead of using the low-concept idea to give the quote-amatic actor a golden opportunity to shine, McKay insists on toilet humour and slapstick for almost the entire length of the film.

This film would ideally be suited to a younger audience if it weren’t for the foul language and Ferrell brandishing his testicles. (He claimed it was a prosthetic in a recent interview – hopefully that’s true).

Without any real plot driving the film, Ferrell and Reilly engage in a series of sketches, most of which are sibling rivalry-by-numbers farces with added F-words.

The pair clearly have a chemistry, which worked brilliantly when they teamed up for Talledega Nights in 2006. But perhaps they needed more to work with than just each other to bounce off, and could have done with more direction to get the comedy juices flowing.

Scenes of comedy violence raise a giggle at first but grow tiresome as the same repetitive visual gags underline the lack of imaginative dialogue which both Ferrell and McKay usually excel at.

Ferrell has proved he can play the arrogant narcissist role better than anyone (Anchorman, Talledega Nights, Blades of Glory) as well as the sweetly innocent buffoon (Elf, Kicking & Screaming) so his track record should have made him the perfect candidate to play an overgrown mummy’s boy.

Instead, he just comes across as lazy, creating a childish character which is sometimes more annoying than funny and leaving all the good lines to relative newcomer to gross-out comedy Reilly, laced with swearing though they may be.

Routine bit-parter Adam Scott draws some of the biggest laughs as Brennan’s obnoxious younger brother Derek, a helicopter tour salesman who rubs his success in his less ambitious sibling’s face at every opportunity (and at one point managing to upstage him with an inspired performance of Ice, Ice, Baby).

Ironically, Scott also manages to push Ferrell to the comedy sidelines. Although disappointing, the film still has some of the best comedy talent of the moment so it’s certainly watchable and will at least please fans of McKay’s previous work.

But this summer’s Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express both have more laughs in their little fingers than Step Brothers has in its entire body. The ingredients were all there, but either Ferrell’s lack of form or a reluctance to let the motor-mouth loose stops the film far short of its obvious potential.

Comedy powerhouse that he is, Will Ferrell can do pretty much whatever he wants, knowing he can make it all go away when he decides to whip out Anchorman 2 from up his sleeve.