Pun Salad

Another movie from the Apatow factory, chock full of good filthy fun.

The premise: Brennan and Dale (Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, respectively) are spoiled never-grown-up adults, total leeches on their single parents (played by Mary Steenburgen and the great Richard Jenkins). But said parents get married, and move in together as married people do, dragging their unwilling offspring along. It's hate at first sight between them.

I laughed a lot. I'm not proud of that, but there it is. In my (slight) defense, the movie stays true to its over-the-top exploration of this particular dysfunction. There are a whole bunch of supporting players, who are all hilarious.

Richard Jenkins is fine here—he can do no wrong—but there's no room here for his usual subtle, nuanced performance.

On a related note, I've been waiting (approximately) forever for another Mary Steenburgen movie, In the Electric Mist. It's based on one of my favorite James Lee Burke books featuring his Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux. Ms. Steenburgen plays Dave's wife, Bootsie; in what I consider to be dead solid perfect casting, Dave is played by Tommy Lee Jones. It now appears that the movie will be going straight to DVD on March 24.