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.

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

I saw The Cabin in the Woods when it came out and, although I liked it, I never bother rewatching it, mainly because I had terrible taste in movies back then. After reading Cinematic Corner's 10 best horror films since 2010, I thought it was time for a rewatch.

The story follows five college kids, Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Holden (Jesse Williams), and Marty (Fran Kranz), as they head off to a cabin in the woods for the weekend, and along the way they come across a creepy man who warns them about the danger. Of course, they ignore him and isolate themselves in the cabin anyway.

There couldn't have been a more stereotypical horror scenario than this, am I right? Well, thankfully, there's so much more to the plot —as revealed in the confusing opening (confusing because you feel like you're watching the wrong movie), there's a team of high tech people who is responsible for whatever is about to happen in the cabin— and, although the major twist is revealed right from the start, the plot is compelling and engaging from start to finish.

Not only The Cabin in the Woods has a well-thought plot, but it makes fun of clichés in horror movies incredibly well, starting from the characters who are your typical horror movie victims —Dana is the sweet and innocent one, Curt is the athletic/jerky one, Jules is the slut, Holden is the nerd, and Marty is the stoner. Only this time around they are not plain dumb nor they make the most idiotic choices ever such as splitting up to cover more ground. Eventually, they do idiotic things but only because it's the tech people manipulating, controlling them. Despite their clichés, they are likeable and you'll find yourself rooting for them.

The cast does a pretty good job too. While Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison do fine in their roles as they play the clichéd characters very well, Fran Franz steals the show as he nails the role of the stoner with a believable and hilarious performance. There are also two great performances by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, both in the role of tech controllers, and the share such chemistry, it's a pleasure to watch them, and a lot of fun too.

Lionsgate

Because of the humorous tone The Cabin in the Woods has from the very beginning, I was a bit worried about the horror aspect. I worried over nothing though as the film delivers on the front too. While I wouldn't call any of the scenes scary, there are some rather chilling scenes, fun killing scenes and so much gore to please a fan of slasher.