Step Brothers (2008)

After a day of non-stop walking, I still had some energy left to watch a movie so I decided to watch something light. It took me 30 minutes to pick one and eventually went with Step Brothers because it had been on my list for ages and it was about time for me to watch it. 

The story follows Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly), two unemployed, nearly 40-year-old slackers who still live with their parents. When Brennen's mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen), marries Dale's father, Robert (Richard Jenkins), Brennan and Dale are forced to share a room. Despite their personalities being so alike, they don't get along very well, but when Brennan's successful young brother, Derek (Adam Scott), the two begin to bond. 

Step Brothers's plot is not thin, it's non-existent as the film is mostly a vehicle/excuse for Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to do crude sketches. While that exactly something one would expect from a movie with those two, the absolutely ridiculous story, the fact that almost everything happens by chance, that there are subplots that only make the story more dreadful, and that overall it feels like an improvisation after another, not even good ones, these things still bothered me. 

Not as much as the characters did though. Not only they are incredibly stupid and unbelievable — I mean, the two main characters are two adults who behave like two retarded kids —, but they also are very unlikeable and quite irritating, and the only reason I sided with them was because Brennan's brother, Derek, was an asshole, with a capital aitch. 

The performances aren't much better as they are dull, unbelievable and uninspired. Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins both do a good job though as the parents, the only two responsible characters in the entire film, and Kathryn Hahn, who gets the chance to go nuts in the role of Derek's sexually repressed wife, is quite funny. 

Columbia Pictures

I wouldn't have given a damn about the script and the terrible acting though if Step Brothers was a funny movie. Unfortunately, neither the comedy works. I'm not sure what's the issue here, maybe the fact that Adam McKay didn't want to make a comedy but a drama, the thing is that the comedy just falls flat. I smiled when Brennan and Dale turned their single beds into a bunk bed and it collapsed, and the job interview sequence was quite something, but everything else just didn't work for me. Ferrell and Reilly try to be funny but the funny jokes and gags are just not a part of the script.

Private Life (2018)

I've been meaning to watch Private Life since it released as I love Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti but I kept putting it off because of the plot. Now that I'm finally working on my best and worst of 2018 post, I figured it was time for me to check this out. 

The story follows Richard (Paul Giamatti) and Rachel (Kathryn Hahn), a couple in their forties who are desperately trying to have a kid by any means possible. Just when they think they are out of options, a new opportunity presents itself, to use an egg donor. While Richard is fine with it, Rachel struggles with the idea of using some stranger's eggs but when Sadie (Kayli Carter), the stepdaughter of Richard's brother, Charlie (John Carroll Lynch), drops out of college and stays with them in New York, they decide to ask her.

Private Life does a really good job at portraying the commitment, stress, energy and money involved in the IVF process. Director and writer Tamara Jenkins has clearly done her homework —she went through this herself, if I'm not wrong— and it shows as the film is very informative and eye-opening about the subject. The film also shows how far people are willing to go to have children of their "own" not matter the consequences, and I'm not talking about only the egg donor thing, but the ending as well —which, apparently, didn't resonate with many people.

Unfortunately, the story isn't as compelling and engaging as it should have been, it's not always consistent, it's often redundant and it doesn't always make a lot of sense. In addition, the pacing is so slow, the two hours feel like a lot more.

Despite this, the characters, Richard and Rachel, feel like real human beings and for this reason you feel for them and you end up hoping their dream will come true. They are unlikeable characters and yet they are likeable. The credits for this entirely go to the actors as Giamatti and Hahn share incredible chemistry, which makes them very believable in the role of the struggling couple, and they both delivers the characters' fears, doubts and sorrows very well. Kayli Carter does a nice job too as Sadie. John Carroll Lynch also provides good support; Molly Shannon, on the other hand, is so cringy in the role of Sadie's mother and the character changes all of a sudden.

Netflix

Another issue I had with Private Life is the humour. While occasionally it was kind of funny, overall the comedy was pretty bland. Ultimately, the film provides a realistic and natural insight into the life of fertility junks, and the central performances are great, but it just feels like a tedious miss.

A Bad Moms Christmas (2017)

I hated Bad Moms, truly hated it, as it tried too hard to be some sort of The Hangover with moms. The real problem was the humour though, it was flatter than a board. I am a sucker for sequels though, so I ended up watching A Bad Moms Christmas anyway. Also, I have a crush on Mila Kunis so I had to see this.

The film again follows Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn), three under-appreciated and over-worked moms, only this time around they have to create a perfect Christmas for their families while dealing with their own mothers, Amy's overly critical mom, Ruth (Christine Baranski), Kiki's overwhelming mom, Sandy (Cheryl Hines), and Carla's absentee party mom, Isis (Susan Sarandon).

The plot isn't particularly original nor intricate —it's actually rather simple— and it certainly isn't an exciting one, but it isn't dreadful either as I found it a little bit more enjoyable than the first one.

It is also arguably deeper than its predecessor as it deals with mother-daughter relationships —Ruth has unrealistic expectations for Amy's motherhood; Sandy kind of suffers from empty nest syndrome as she doesn't seem to understand that Kiki has her own life now and that she needs her space; Isis returns to her daughter only when she needs money or to hide from someone, while Carla wants more closeness to her. The problem with this is that the film, instead of having a comedy vibe, of making you want to party like the original did —or was supposed to—, it feels like a flat drama that makes you contemplate the relationship you have with your mother. The theme isn't handled terribly but still, that is certainly not something I want to do when watching a comedy.

Also, because of how much space the script gives the bad grandmas, and the mother-daughter dynamics, the three leading ladies, Amy, Kiki, and Carla, barely spend some time together. The characters, however, aren't terrible. Although I'm not happy with how cheap Carla has become here —her mom and she waited out of a grocery store with a cart saying "canned goods donations" and aggressively stole from the bags of people exiting the store—, the leads are still likeable. And their mothers, although one-dimensional, are compelling.

STX Fillms

And the credits entirely go to the cast. Kathryn Hann once again steals the show as Carla, the foul-mouthed mom who apparently inherited her personality from her mother, Susan Sarandon's Isis —yep, like the terrorist organization. And they joke about it in the film, I kid you not. Both Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell are overshadowed by the mothers, especially Kunis as Christine Baranski is perfect as Amy's judgemental mother —Peter Gallagher and she couldn't possibly be Mila Kunis's parents though.

As for the comedy, it is pretty much the same raunchy, vulgar humour of the first film, but this time around it works a little better. Even the Isis line kind of works because of how Sarandon delivers it. The mall scene though, where Amy, Kiki and Carla get wasted, doesn't really work, just like it didn't work in the first film.