Review of Night at the Museum (2006) by Matthew W — 21 Aug 2014

Night at the Museum, in my opinion, is probably the best comedy that isn't animated to come out in theatres in the past decade or even two decades. Comedy is the hardest genre of film to review because it is the most subjective. Everybody has a slightly different sense of humor.

This is just my opinion. From where I stand comedy, along with the horror and actions genres, has been really suffering lately. There have been some good comedies come out that are animated. However, in terms of live action, comedies are just dead in the water right now and have been for a very long time. Most comedies in theatres today are either animated, stupid parodies, or gross-out humor which I'm not a fan of. You also have old comedians trying to recapture the glory days like Adam Sandler or Kevin James putting out a number of comedies in the past several years and they've all been terrible. There have been a couple that have come out that have been alright like Click or Tower Heist. I like the Cheaper by the Dozen films. I think those are underrated. I like Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knight though those are mainly action films. Night at the Museum, however, is definitely the best, in my humble opinion.

The plot is quite simple. You have this guy named Larry (Ben Stiller) assigned to be a security guard at the Natural History Museum. However, at night the exhibits at the museum come to life and hijinks ensue. There is a fight to save the museum at the end but it is mostly about Ben Stiller's character interacting with the exhibits.

The cast is great. They got a lot of good comedic talent like Owen Wilson (who we sadly don't see much anymore), Paul Rudd, and the late Robin Williams (who is greatly missed). I thought this was Ben Stiller's best film I've seen him in. I like Meet the Parents and Tower Heist okay, but this is definitely his best. The acting was fine for this film. The effects were also pretty good, though not great in spots. Best of all is I found it funny, which means the film did its job. I thought Ben Stiller and his interactions with the live exhibits worked at it made for some fun comedy.

Overall, if you want to see a funny comedy give this a look. I'm not promising you'll find it funny like I did because comedy is subjective, but give it a chance. It's definitely not perfect. Ultimately it is a stupid premise and not every joke hit the mark for me. However, I had a fun time overall.