hild-men at the movies have been impossible to ignore over the past few years, with producer Judd Apatow having started this trend of overgrown perma-boys and the women who tolerate them. And now Step Brothers, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly and directed by Adam McKay ("Talladega Nights"), is yet another one.

; if there’s a monopoly on wacky Hollywood comic features, it’s certain to include the Apatow stamp.

But after the semi-funny Will Ferrell vehicle “Semi-Pro” landed with a thud at the box-office last February, even his most enthusiastic fans began to wonder how long the 41-year-old could get away with playing basically the same character, movie after movie.

Gems like Elf and the genuinely affecting Stranger Than Fiction have expanded on his clueless man-child schtick, but Ferrell's infantilism grows tired for those of us who've had our fill of dick jokes and child-men on the loose.

Anyone who’s seen a TV ad or trailer for the movie will arrive at the theater knowing the bulk of what will transpire: Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and Dale Doback (Reilly) are two adults suffering from serious cases of arrested adolescence. Both still live at home, Brennan with his mom, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen), and Dale with his dad, Robert (Richard Jenkins).

Though, we can't blame Apatow for the entire mess, Step Brothers does have all the markings of his imagination

A love-at-first-sight meeting between Nancy and Robert justifies a quick wedding that brings the four together as a family under the same roof. This forces the two adult children to share a room, and they deal with it about as well as real 12-year-olds would; a nasty step-sibling rivalry where sacred toys must not be touched, dinner table stare-downs are law, and vicious insults and threats are all in a day's work.

Basically, two brand new siblings acutely distressed and anything but ready to engage in brotherly love. They spend the first part of the movie hating each other, with ongoing injurious pranks that include a set of (prosthetic) balls getting rubbed on a drum set and a dramatic battle in the front yard, in which a shovel and a bicycle are both used as weapons.

Eventually Dale and Brennan bond over their mutual hatred of Brennan's brother, Derek (Adam Scott), a rich egotist bully whose cruelty as a teenager thoroughly traumatized his brother.

Step Brothers is essentially a throwaway film, one that might have gone straight-to-video if Apatow had not had such a hot hand. It's not that any of this stuff is offensive, it's just hackneyed and flat.

This is a loud, ugly, foul comedy that has comic fuel to burn, some of it unashamedly non sequitur and stupid-brilliant, but it still feels like a post-Talladega flameout. But if you’ve remained in touch with what makes your inner 12-year-old have a filthy giggle, you’ll have fun with it.