Review of A Night at the Roxbury (1998) by Adam F — 26 Oct 2013

"A Night at the Roxburry" is a comedy filled with stupid jokes and stupider characters but it isn't entirely without its charms. The story follows two brothers: Doug Butabi (Chris Kattan) and Steve Butabi (Will Ferrell). Doug is obsessed with the idea of starting his own club and Steve is... the dumb one. They fancy themselves entrepreneurs and ladies men, even though their attempts at picking up girls are pathetic, they live with their parents and work in their father's fake plant store. Despite their failures, every night they get ready to hit the L.A. scene, bobbing their heads to Haddaway's "What is Love", waiting in lines, trying unsuccessfully to pick up women. Despite their failed attempts, they are never deterred. During the day Doug uses any credit card transaction at his father's store as a an excuse to hit on a phone approval operator (Meredith Scott Lynn) and Steve dodges the advances of Emily (Molly Shannon), the daughter of a friend of their dad's. After a car accident with Richard Grieco (playing himself) the two finally get into the club of their dreams: The Roxbury. They get the chance to talk with the club's owner and set up a meeting the next day, hook up with a couple of vixens and things are really looking up. When that meeting falls through, the girls dumb the Butabis and the brothers lose all hope. They get into a heated argument and their friendship comes to an end. Things look pretty dire and it looks like unless they can patch things up, the two will be forced to grow up and abandon their dreams.

The film really feels like a series of sketches stitched together so it won't surprise you to learn that it is indeed based on the sketch comedy of SNL. The characters are all one-joke and at times it does wear on you. Doug and Steve are terrible at picking up women, they have no social skills, they're virgins, they live with their parents and they are obsessed with clubbing. Yes, we get it! Same goes for the side characters, Emily is obsessed with Steve, with money and hearing talk about business turns her on... anything else? As for the story, it just seems like a bunch of coincidences one after the other, peppered with snippets of the characters' everyday routines. The conclusion of the film in particular comes out of nowhere, you just blink and there you have it, we've stumbled into a happy ending. This is what you affectionately call a "dumb comedy". The laughs aren't generated by clever setups or satire or witty dialogue, they come from stupid people doing stupid things and acting cartoonishly. I will admit though, the movie does have its share of laughs. Seeing the two brothers bobbing their heads to the soundtrack (which is an excellent mix by the way) is funny and sometimes it just takes you by so much surprise that you can't help but burst laughing.

I have really mixed feelings about the movie; on the one hand it often is very funny but on the other, the main characters are so pathetic that sometimes it gets downright uncomfortable. When they're flailing about like fishes out of water on the dance floor it's so exaggerated that it becomes embarrassing but the next moment they're dancing with their partners in a decently choreographed number that's quite entertaining. When it's funny, it's really memorable and when it isn't you want to turn your eyes from the screen. This is one of those sketches that should have stayed a sketch but if you have the movie in your collection, it's a perfect party movie. You can play it in the background so people can pause their conversations and enjoy the good parts for a moment, then hop right back into the party once their favorite scene is over. For the moments where I laughed, and laughed hard I do recommend it, but with reservations. (Theatrical version on Dvd, Oct 2, 2013).