In 2008, coming off back-to-back critical and box-office disappointments with “Semi-Pro” and “Blades of Glory,” Will Ferrell looked a little down and out. He returned to his writer/director buddy Adam McKay for “Step Brothers,” a film that reteamed him with his “Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby” co-star John C. Reilly. “Step Brothers” is a modern comedic masterpiece, frankly, but critics weren’t really convinced at the time (55% on Rotten Tomatoes, 53 on Metacritic). It’s obviously been re-evaluated to the point of adoration and a sequel almost happened.
After a few years of the principal cast talking up the project, Will Ferrell recently killed all our hopes, saying “Step Brothers 2” was toast. Yet, despite pronouncing the project dead, Ferrell couldn’t help but talk about it to the New York Daily News, revealing some of its plot too.
“We talked about ‘Step Brothers,’ and then Adam and I got sidetracked with other things,” the comedian said. “We had a whole story where John and I follow our parents to live in a retirement community and try to convince them that we earned the right to retire as well.”
Ferrell’s recent attempt at a sequel with “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” was met with a polite shrug which has, understandably, left the 50-year-old actor cautious in attempting another sequel to a classic.
“The sequel thing is so funny because, we decided obviously to go down the road with ‘Anchorman,’ and we made what I thought was a really great sequel, really funny,” Ferrell said. “The entertainment media and fans beg you, and beg you, and beg you for sequels, and then you make it and you definitely have a fraction that’s like, ‘Well, not as good as the first one.’ So I guess it’s a catch-22. It’s a nice catch-22, because people love the movies in the first place.”
A consensus has formed and many believe the sequel wasn’t as good as the original. We knew it wouldn’t be, we just wanted more of those characters and that’s what we received. Nevertheless, some of its absurdism was a total delight. A sequel to “Step Brothers” would probably receive a similar reception and there’s no way it could repeat the quotability and cult factor of the original. So, it’s understandable why McKay and Ferrell have decided to shy away from drawing from this well twice. Can they at least put the script online for us “Step Brothers” archivists? For the time being, unless they change their minds, we have the original which is one of the most re-watchable movies of the last 15 years and even boasts Marion Cotillard as a super fan.