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This Step Brothers trivia quiz has 40 free questions with answers and covers the 2008 comedy about two grown men forced to share a bedroom: Brennan Huff and Dale Doback, the drum set, the bunk beds, Derek and his helicopter business, the therapist, Prestige Worldwide and its music video on Robert's boat, the Christmas divorce and the Catalina Wine Mixer finale with 'Por ti volaré'. It also covers how the film got made, from Adam McKay and Will Ferrell's script and Judd Apatow's producing to the 1.5 million feet of improvised film they shot, Jon Brion's score, the $65 million budget, the reviews that were lukewarm at the time and the cult status that followed, and the real Catalina Wine Mixer that now happens every year. It is written for people who can quote every line and for anyone hosting a comedy movie round. Easy questions cover the story and the cast; hard ones ask about the crew, the numbers and the actors' other films. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
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Q 01Which two actors play the title characters, Brennan Huff and Dale Doback?
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reunited two years after their first film together, and Reilly shares the story credit with Ferrell and the director.
Q 02How old are Brennan and Dale when the film begins?
39 and 40
Brennan and Dale are 39 and 40, both living at home with a single parent when Nancy and Robert meet at a conference and marry.
Q 03Which actress plays Brennan's mother, Nancy Huff?
Mary Steenburgen
Mary Steenburgen plays Nancy Huff, who marries Robert Doback soon after they meet at a conference; she had played Ferrell's stepmother in Elf five years earlier.
Q 04What is Dale's father Robert's profession?
A doctor
Robert Doback is a doctor; Nancy meets him at a medical conference, and Richard Jenkins plays him as the physician who despairs that his grown son lives at home.
Q 05The first big fight between the two step brothers erupts when Brennan touches what?
Dale's drum set
Brennan rubs his testicles on Dale's drum set after being warned never to touch it — prosthetics, on screen — and the house-wrecking brawl follows.
Q 06What finally turns the two step brothers from enemies into best friends?
Dale punching Derek
Dale punching Derek in the face, after Derek mocks them both, instantly makes the pair best friends, since Brennan has wanted to hit his brother for years.
Q 07Who plays Derek, Brennan's smug younger brother?
Adam Scott
Adam Scott plays Derek, the smug younger brother who takes over selling the family house; Scott went on to Parks and Recreation and Severance.
Q 08What kind of business does Derek run?
Helicopter leasing
Derek's business is helicopter leasing, and he later hires Brennan to work there; his plan to sell the family house is what splits up the step brothers.
Q 09What is the name of the entertainment company Brennan and Dale found?
Prestige Worldwide
Prestige Worldwide, 'the first word in entertainment', is pitched to Derek's investors with a wildly inappropriate music video that ends the meeting.
Q 10The step brothers' music video is shot without permission on what belonging to Robert?
His sailboat
They film 'Boats 'n Hoes' aboard his sailboat — the boat Robert planned to retire on — and wreck it; Robert's dream of sailing the world dies with it.
Q 11The film's climax takes place at which event, organised by Brennan?
The Catalina Wine Mixer
The Catalina Wine Mixer, the industry party Brennan organises for Derek's company, hosts the finale, where the step brothers perform and the parents reconcile.
Q 12What song does Brennan sing at the climactic event, with Dale on drums?
'Por ti volaré'
Brennan sings 'Por ti volaré', the Spanish-language version of the Italian hit 'Con te partirò', while Dale plays the drum solo that gets the crowd roaring.
Q 13The song Brennan performs at the finale was originally sung at the 1995 Sanremo Festival by which tenor?
Andrea Bocelli
Q 21Where in Los Angeles County was the film's climactic party filmed?
Trump National Golf Club
The climactic party was shot at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, on the coast south of the city, standing in for an island resort.
Q 22What grade did opening-weekend audiences give Step Brothers on CinemaScore?
B
Opening-weekend audiences gave it a B on CinemaScore, matching its lukewarm reviews at the time; its reputation grew over years of cable reruns and quotation.
Q 23In which year was the first official real-life version of the film's climactic event held?
2015
The island's first official wine mixer was staged in 2015 at Descanso Beach in Avalon, seven years after the film, and became an annual September event.
Andrea Bocelli introduced 'Con te partirò' at the 1995 Sanremo Festival, where it finished fourth, before it became his signature song worldwide.
Q 14Six months after the finale, what is the boys' company doing?
Running karaoke services
The parents have remarried, and the boys are, more or less, functioning adults.
Q 15Which actress plays Denise, the therapist Brennan becomes infatuated with?
Andrea Savage
Andrea Savage plays Denise, whose patient Brennan misreads her professional warmth as romance; Savage later created and starred in the sitcom I'm Sorry.
Q 16Which of these comedians appears in the film as one of the interviewers at the job interviews?
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen cameos as the sporting-goods interviewer baffled by the tuxedoed pair; Ken Jeong plays another interviewer who takes an instant dislike to them.
Q 17Which two comedy heavyweights produced Step Brothers?
Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow
Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow produced it — Miller as Ferrell's longtime manager, Apatow a year after his Knocked Up and Superbad.
Q 18Step Brothers opened in second place at the US box office behind which film?
The Dark Knight
Step Brothers opened to about $31 million on 25 July 2008, second to The Dark Knight's second weekend, and went on to about $128 million worldwide.
Q 19What was the film's production budget?
$65 million
The production budget was $65 million; the film grossed about $128 million worldwide, roughly double its cost, before becoming a home-video and cable favourite.
Q 20Who composed the score for Step Brothers?
Jon Brion
Jon Brion composed the score; he had previously scored Punch-Drunk Love and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and produced records for Fiona Apple and Kanye West.
Q 24Ferrell and McKay's production company, whose 2019 break-up complicated any sequel, was called what?
Gary Sanchez Productions
Gary Sanchez Productions, founded in 2006 and named for a fictional Paraguayan investor, ended in 2019 after McKay cast Reilly, not Ferrell, as Jerry Buss in Winning Time.
Q 25Which comedy website did Ferrell and McKay launch together in 2007, the year before Step Brothers?
Funny or Die
Funny or Die launched in April 2007 with 'The Landlord', in which Ferrell is berated by McKay's two-year-old daughter Pearl; Chris Henchy co-founded the site.
Q 26Which film did McKay and Ferrell make immediately before Step Brothers?
Talladega Nights
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) paired Ferrell's Ricky Bobby with Reilly's Cal Naughton Jr., the start of the double act.
Q 27The film's director later won an Academy Award for the screenplay of which film?
The Big Short
The director shared the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Big Short with Charles Randolph; Vice and Don't Look Up brought him further nominations.
Q 28John C. Reilly voiced the title character of which 2012 Disney animated film?
Wreck-It Ralph
Reilly voiced Wreck-It Ralph, the arcade villain who wants to be a hero, in the 2012 Disney film and its 2018 sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Q 29Will Ferrell was a cast member of Saturday Night Live during which years?
1995-2002
Ferrell's SNL run, 1995-2002, produced his George W. Bush impression, the Butabi brothers and Spartan cheerleader Craig; Elf followed in 2003.
Q 30Will Ferrell earned a Golden Globe nomination for a rare dramatic role in which 2006 film?
Stranger than Fiction
Stranger than Fiction (2006) cast Ferrell as an IRS auditor who hears Emma Thompson's narrator plotting his death, earning him a Golden Globe nomination.