Step Brothers

In 2008, when “Step Brothers” was released, Will Ferrell was 41 and Mary Steenburgen was 55. In the film, she plays his mom. I bet that hurt when her agent called. I bet it also hurt when she read the script and counted how many F-bombs she would be dropping for the sake of a cheap laugh. What was that Mary? You won an Oscar? That’s cool, but were you ever a “mystery slimed celebrity” at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards? This plotless movie is a loosely strung sequence of admittedly funny gags, but Ferrell’s shock-and-awe comedy style grows old.

 

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

You know how you want to laugh when you hear somebody fart in public, but you know you shouldn’t, so you just smile and grit your teeth until you hear somebody else laugh, and then you let out a torrent of giggles? Well, “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” (2015) is 93 minutes of that. (There’s even a scene where somebody farts. Go figure.) It’s not for the straitlaced. Anyway, the title is the plot, they say “dick” and “fuck” about 375 times, sequel hijinks ensue, and if you harbor any sense of subversion whatsoever, you will occasionally laugh out loud.