Review of A Night at the Roxbury (1998) by Jeff G — 10 Dec 2008

The title alone brings up memories of the classic Marx Brothers comedy â??A night at the operaâ?? unfortunately itâ??s nowhere near good as that film. It doesnâ??t even come close. But what films really do come close to classics these days.

Maybe the last funny Saturday night live character takeoff movie. Itâ??s funny more for the supporting characters then anything else. Lochlyn Munro as the gym obsessed friend. Chazz Palmenteri Reaching a new comedic high as Uri the club owner. Early appearances of Eva Mendes and Michael Clarke Duncan. It is also The first time Will ferell was the star of a movie he is restrained here especially by the standards of what we have seen him do in his more recent films but he is still funny.

Even the stunt casting of Richard Grieco (21 Jump Streetâ??s Booker) is on point though the premise still works best as a five minute skit. Once you flesh out the characters that are only supposed to be minor. you really find out they werenâ??t really thought out better on paper ideas.

The film feels a little stale and is definitely dated. It doesnâ??t look good but itâ??s worth watching trust me at first I thought it was going to be crappy but it won me over after I watched the whole thing. Itâ??s not great and I would advise waiting for cable to watch it but itâ??s a nice way to pass time.

I donâ??t know what happened but amy heckerling originally started directing the movie and finished a few scenes then it was taken over by john fortenberry.