Step Brothers

Logan Simon

Professor Jackson

Intro Comp

August 29th, 2016

Step Brothers

               Movie posters are almost as important as the movie itself. A movie poster can provide an extra lift to viewers who may currently be on the fence about the movie.  They can capture a person’s attention with color or a unique picture. A great movie poster will give insight on the film, but also great some curiosity. Though it’s nothing exciting and there’s nothing that will really catch somebody’s eye, I still believe the creators of the Step Brothers movie poster did a pretty decent job.

               Looking at the movie poster, it’s pretty obvious the genre is comedy. Though there isn’t much to the poster from a plot standpoint, it portrays the personalities of these men well. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, two prominent figures in the comedy world, appear in a typical family picture pose. This particular pose suggests that the brothers are at peace with one another, and everything is okay. Knowing the backgrounds of these two actors, however, should indicate that the pose is satirical. The brothers, or step-brothers, start out as enemies and one even hits the other one with a golf club. Later on, they begin to realize that they’re actually pretty similar and can get along, which gives the pose on the poster some sort of resemblance to the film.

               Going deeper into the movie poster, the light background provides insight that it will be a lighthearted movie. The tag line for the movie is, “They grow up so fast.” This line should be taken as purely sarcastic, like the movie itself, because both of these men have been living at home for over 38 years. The men are captured looking into the distance past the camera which can represent some form of dysfunctionality. However, the most important aspect of the poster are the sweaters that they’re wearing. After watching the film, it’s evident that these guys don’t really fit the stereotype. They love sitting on the couch, watching TV in a t-shirt and boxers all day long. A collared shirt and a sweater is the exact opposite of their normal attire, so featuring this in the poster was a clever move.

The Ethos appeal is covered by using two established figures in the comedy world in this movie. The majority of the films these men had appeared in prior to Step Brothers makes it easy to assume that this will also be a comedy. Both of these men are credible, popular comedians who had an already established reputation prior to this film. For me, I’m a big fan of Will Ferrell’s so that connects me with the Pathos appeal. I will see almost every film Will stars in because it’s a guarantee to make me laugh.

In the end, the movie poster is nothing exciting, but it gets the job done and provides enough hints to leave curiosity to the viewer. Because this movie was such a success, it didn’t really need a movie poster to help convince potential viewers to go see it. Having both Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in the same movie, and featuring them together on the movie poster, is all the creators needed to do and they accomplished that.