<i>Step Brothers</i>: Better Than <i>Citizen Kane</i>? You Bet Your Ball Sack!

Yes Virginia, Step Brothers is better than Citizen Kane because Step Brothers is much funnier than Citizen Kane -- and shorter too.

For the record, cineastes, yes, I have seen both of films in question. I saw Step Brothers just last night at the ArcLight in Hollywood, and Citizen Kane once back in film history class at Cornell. I enjoyed both -- but as least as far as I can recall, there were absolutely no hilarious bunk bed gags in Citizen Kane. Also I believe only one of these two fine films featured a hilarious and tense scrotum-on-a-drum-set scene, and if memory serves, it wasn't the one with Agnes Morehead.

Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton -- hey, don't get me wrong, those two were quite good too. But as a team, one ultimately has to give Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly the edge here. Also to take the longer view, I'm ordering the Talladega Nights/Step Brothers combo plate every time over the Citizen Kane/Magnificent Ambersons. The Ambersons had their moments, but Step Brothers was magnificent.

Honestly, I had an excellent time at Step Brothers. Thanks to reading a number of mixed reviews, I went in with seriously diminished expectations, and proceeded to laugh consistently throughout, never more so than during a scene featuring a Billy Joel cover band called Uptown Girl that was determined to focus only on the Piano Man's Eighties oeuvre. For the record, I hope Uptown Girl tours because personally I like An Innocent Man much more than anything by Wagner.

So do yourself a favor, and don't listen to the film critics here. Listen to a human being who paid for it. Step Brothers is like a family reunion, but cheaper and more entertaining. By all means, go ahead and rent Citizen Kane, but see Step Brothers in the theater first.

P.S. Rosebud was his sled.