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Photos: The 'Step Brothers'-Inspired Catalina Wine Mixer Returned For A Second Year
Among the scores of Will Ferrell movies, which one(s) would classify as avant garde? Maybe the Spanish-language Casa de mi Padre? Perhaps not; it tries a little too hard to position itself as a self-reflexive take on telenovelas.
Our pick would be Step-Brothers, which is basically one-and-a-half hours of non-sequiturs. The always level-headed Mary Steenburgen, who played the mother to Ferrell's character, claimed that director Adam McKay's goal was to get her to shout as many expletives as possible. The result was a little terrifying: there was no rhyme or reason to the movie, and Ferrell and John C. Reilly were a little too effective in playing giant man-children.
While the movie has faded with time, it's legacy lives on in the annual Catalina Wine Mixer. What is it, you ask? The mixer was a fictional annual gathering that was featured in the movie. Adam Scott, who played Ferrell's brother, hailed the event as the "biggest helicopter-leasing event in the Western Hemisphere since 1997." Some people were so enamored with Step Brothers that they decided to host a real-life Catalina Wine Mixer. The first one happened last year, and it was apparently a smash (The Dan Band showed up to provide the tunes).
It was such a hit that a second mixer was planned, and it happened just this weekend at the Descanso Beach Club in Avalon on Catalina Island. As you can tell from the photos, the 3-day event made good on its reputation as a major helicopter-leasing event. The guests were well-lubed on chardonnay. Chris Kattan (Ferrell's Night At The Roxbury cohort) showed up to emcee and rouse up some laughs. Adam Lasher, DJ Ayla Simone, and yes, The Dan Band, came to supply the music. Finger-foods were abundant. And there was also a screening of the movie, with guests encouraged to dress up as the characters. Fashion-wise, it was a mix of Brooks Brothers and T-shirts from Spencers.
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Is the "f*cking Catalina Wine Mixer" (as quoted from the movie) the catalyst for a new age in which festivals are based on fictional ones? Will Coachella be supplanted by Chef Aid from South Park? We can only hope so.
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