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The Rewatchables ·

Step Brothers

year 2008decade 00sdirector Adam McKaygenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennessey
All 13 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 22:34

The drum-set scene through the backyard fight

Four nominees are thrown out first: the first dinner scene with the whole family together, start to finish great, where John C. Reilly makes Will Ferrell cry and which ends with Ferrell going to shake Richard Jenkins's hand (as transcribed, 'Richard Jacobs') and slowly pulling it away; the drum scene, a masterpiece that keeps going until the fight in the yard and Mary Steenberg's (as transcribed) profane line; the bunk beds breaking, still funny the hundredth time; and the boat video.

Also floated: the Catalina mixer song and that whole moment; the grounding after the drum set, where the couch exchange between Jenkins and Steenburgen and Reilly and Ferrell is mind-blowing because the two are visibly throwing lines out; Adam Scott's Derek popping his head up into the treehouse, with 'I haven't had a carb since 2004' called one of the best lines in the movie and an obvious body double for the abs; and the porno-magazine time-machine bit leading up to it.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 55:25

"It's a fucking Catalina wine mixer, man"

There are too many contenders to choose from; the legacy quote is held to be the Catalina wine mixer line, which anyone who loves the movie can throw out anywhere, and 'did we just become best friends' is a pretty big one too; picking a best quote is called impossible because the movie is all quotes.

The film

Step Brothers (2008)

Directed by Adam McKay · Drama

98 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Will Ferrell Brennan Huff, the 39-year-old layabout son of Nancy. Bryce Hurless plays Brennan's young self.
John C. Reilly Dale Doback, the 40-year-old layabout son of Robert
Richard Jenkins Dr. Robert Doback, Dale's widowed father and a medical doctor
Mary Steenburgen Nancy Huff, Brennan's divorced mother, with whom Robert is remarried
Adam Scott Derek Huff, Brennan's successful but arrogant younger brother. Dmitri Schuyler-Linch plays Derek's young self
Kathryn Hahn Alice Huff, Derek's lonely wife who engages in a sexual affair with Dale
Andrea Savage Denise, Brennan's therapist and eventual love interest
Rob Riggle Randy, Derek's best friend who works under him at a helicopter leasing company
Lurie Poston Tommy Huff, Derek and Alice's oldest child and son
Elizabeth Yozamp Tiffany Huff, Derek and Alice's youngest child and daughter
Logan Manus Chris Gardocki, the juvenile leader of a group of bullies and Dale's nemesis

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

27:47

Casting What-Ifs

Jon Hamm and Thomas Lennon auditioned for Derek before Adam Scott was cast; the film was built around Ferrell and Rei...

Jon Hamm and Thomas Lennon auditioned for Derek before Adam Scott was cast; the film was built around Ferrell and Reilly, so there were few other what-ifs

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:47Read transcript
  • The movie started with John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell and then went and found actors, so the only real what-if is Derek, for which Jon Hamm and Thomas Lennon auditioned during Mad Men (as transcribed, 'Badman'); something in Adam Scott's audition won them over.
  • Hamm as Derek is called one of the better what-ifs the show has had, more intimidating and still funny, but Adam Scott has something evil and punchable about him, and it would be scary to punch Hamm.
  • Scott told the oral history he modeled Derek on moneyed, douchey people he found online and in the Rob Report (as transcribed), a guy who reads a magazine with a speedboat on the cover; the name-drops at the first dinner are all people who seem douchey, Mark Cuban as 'the cubes', Chad Michael Murray, Bobby Flay and Seal, plus the Dane Cook pay-per-view, and being name-dropped by Derek is a tough beat.
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33:37

Half-Assed Internet Research

John C. Reilly cried real tears in the divorce scene; Boats and Hoes was written by Dr. Luke, who had been the SNL gu...

John C. Reilly cried real tears in the divorce scene; Boats and Hoes was written by Dr. Luke, who had been the SNL guitarist; Ferrell did his own singing and Reilly his own drumming at the Catalina Wine Mixer; Adam Scott lip-synced Sweet Child O' Mine in the van; the dinosaur monologue was ad-libbed by Jenkins and McKay in two takes; the prosthetic testicles reportedly cost up to $20,000

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:37Read transcript
  • John C. Reilly really cried during the divorce scene, real tears in a real acting performance; asked as a child of divorce whether the scene landed, a host answers a hundred percent; Han starts crying too and calls him honey, prompting Adam Scott (as transcribed, 'Dan Scott') to ask why she is calling him honey.
  • Boats and Hoes was made by the controversial Dr. Luke, which the hosts suspect traces to his years as the Saturday Night Live guitarist when McKay and Ferrell were on the show; Ferrell did his own singing and Reilly all the drumming at the Catalina Wine Mixer, and Ferrell's operatic performance (transcribed as 'Porti Volare') is weirdly good, opera rather than a pop song, from a crazy talented man.
  • Adam Scott lip-synced Sweet Child O' Mine, the one guy in the van doing so, which a host never noticed until armed with the tidbit; the a cappella Guns N' Roses rendition is also called one of the most rewatchable scenes.
  • The dinosaur monologue was ad-libbed by Jenkins and McKay during a throw-anything session and shot in only two takes; McKay promised Jenkins he would not use it, and before the screening Jenkins asked whether he had used it and learned it was in. It is called an awesome scene that arguably belonged among the most rewatchable, a favorite three-character exchange in which Jenkins's character planned to be a doctor for a while and then go back to being a dinosaur, Brennan asking how that is even a skill, and Dale telling him a human could never be a dinosaur.
  • Stepped on early during the scene discussion: the half-assed internet research found claims that the prosthetic testicles cost $20,000, against the few thousand dollars in the oral history.
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52:19

Picking Nits

The brothers needed a couple more minutes of backstory on becoming employed and living on their own; the cops would b...

The brothers needed a couple more minutes of backstory on becoming employed and living on their own; the cops would be called to that house far more often; the Catalina Island scenes are visibly shot on the Malibu and Laguna Beach cliffs, which is called intentional rather than a nit

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:19Read transcript
  • The only nit for one host is needing two more minutes of backstory on both brothers becoming successfully employed and living on their own; another liked those beats, basically Ferrell discovering mid-dump that he should buy Charmin; a further nit is that the cops would be called to that house more often given all the late-night noise.
  • A prequel hypothetical, Brennan and Dale at ages 21 to 35 before they met, finds no answer: no twenty-year-olds are funny like that, Michael Cera would just be different, and it would be better to see known dramatic actors like Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron try it; turning Stranger Things season 3 into a Step Brothers prequel is joked about, and a Cobra Kai style ten-years-later movie is preferred by one host.
  • Not counted as a nit because it is funny and intentional: having lived in Southern California, a host finds it hilarious that the Catalina Island material is clearly shot on the cliffs of Malibu and Laguna Beach, which look nothing like Catalina; another suspects they could not get a permit to shoot on Catalina.
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56:00

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Did Will Ferrell's character really last with the therapist? Should they make Step Brothers 2? Is there a comedy whos...

Did Will Ferrell's character really last with the therapist? Should they make Step Brothers 2? Is there a comedy whose sequel is better than the original?

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:00Read transcript
  • Whether Will Ferrell's character really lasted with the therapist is waved off because it is a comedy, with a guarantee that Andrea Savage would be in any Step Brothers 2.
  • Asked whether they should make Step Brothers 2, two hosts say no, though one clarifies that does not mean not going; the challenge to name a comedy whose second film tops the first draws Godfather 2 as a joke, Another 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop 2 as nos, 'the clumps' (as transcribed) as a tease, and the observation that there was never a Stripes 2.
  • The Equalizer is named as a sequel better than its first film. — Bill Simmons
  • After the Equalizer tease, the defense is that it is really good, with Denzel Washington as a Lyft driver in Boston.
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