Step Brothers (Blu-ray)

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Video:
Like the movie, the picture itself is underwhelming. The 1080p (AVC-MPEG-4 codec) transfer looks a little soft to me in spots, while at other times the flesh tones look a little too orange. The level of detail is good, but there's not the kind of 3-dimensional "pop" you'd expect with a film like this. Compared to another crude comedy from Sony, "Little Man," this one isn't nearly as impressive a picture.

Audio:
Again Sony gives home video buffs a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio in English, French, or Portuguese, with additional options in Thai or Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Korean, and Chinese. The featured soundtrack is consistently stronger than the video, with a nice separation of audio elements that nonetheless don't stand out or compete. Much of the film is dialogue, and that means the center speaker and front mains get a workout, but there's also plenty of ambient sound coming from the rears.

Extras:
Why is it that the worst movies sometimes have the best commentaries? Answer: because they know they have to work overtime to get you to change your mind about what you just saw. But what usually happens is that I just think the commentary is more entertaining than the film. That's the case here, listening to Ferrell, Reilly, McKay, and NBA player Baron Davis. Why, this track even has a musical score by John Brion. There's plenty of information, but some wild exchanges among these folks as well. It's the breezy romp that the film should have been. Also on Disc 1, fans of deleted, extended, and alternate scenes will also enjoy a substantial selection, because there are a lot of improvisational takes that ended up on the cutting room floor. Other than previews, the final bonus feature on this disc is a Blu-ray exclusive, a "Boats 'n' Hoes Music Video Editor" which allows fans to cobble together an edited version and (once the BD-Live features are activated on street date) actually upload it. Now, had this feature offered more creative options, it might have been something. But it's a little disappointing.

Then there's Disc 2, which contains mostly featurettes. There's a brief gag reel which is more laughter than gag and another one called "Line-O-Rama," along with more snippets from the film that ended up on the cutting room floor on "Job Interviews," "Therapy, and "Prestige Worldwide Presentation." Then there's a montage of the two brothers hurling insults at each other and tearing into each other (yeah, like I wanted to see that again), and the full two-minute video of the "Boats 'N' Hoes Music Video." Add to that more trailers and a couple of joke, in-character featurettes ("Charlyne Moves In," "L'Amour en Caravane") and that about covers the small stuff.

Of more substance is a close-to-20-minute feature on "The Music of Step Brothers," which, of course, few people respond to this film will take the time to watch (and it is slow-moving), and another roughly 20-minute feature on "The Making of Step Brothers." It's a pretty standard making-of film that talks about how they were going to film more than they needed and then edit to where they could produce something that was both funny and deep. O-kay.

Bottom Line:
"Step Brothers" begins with an actual quote from George W. Bush: "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dreams." It's an appropriate quote, because just as Bush butchered the English language, producer Judd Apatow and co-writers McKay and Ferrell make mincemeat out of a premise that should have given two gifted comic actors the chance to have fun with their own versions of Cliff Claven. Instead, we all get a turd to lick.

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