A Night at the Roxbury (1998)

Undescribable Perfection

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Absolutely Fantastic

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Clueless brothers Steve (Will Ferrell) and Doug Butabi (Chris Kattan) can't get into the Roxbury and dreams of opening their own club. They are still living with their parents Barbara (Loni Anderson) and Kamehl (Dan Hedaya) working at the hated family flower shop. Family friend Emily Sanderson (Molly Shannon) lusts after Steve who can't stand her. The guys get rear-ended by 80s star Richard Grieco and they finally have an in into the Roxbury. Gold-diggers Vivica (Gigi Rice) and Cambi (Elisa Donovan) sees the guys talking to the owner Zadir (Chazz Palminteri) and assumes that they have money.The guys and writer from SNL Steve Koren are just piling stupidity onto the Butabi brothers. Steve is slightly more likable because he's just stupid whereas Doug has a real mean streak. The problem is that the movie does the one joke over and over again. It's a little cute at times but mostly it's boring. If Doug is a lot nicer, then it would easier to root for the guys. If there is any hope for this movie, it's the bromance with the brothers. This could have been another 'Dumb and Dumber'. Only Doug is way too angry.

We can thank producer Lorne Michaels for giving us such wonderful comedies like both the Wayne's World films, but we can also blame him for giving other Saturday Night Live characters their due in feature-length films when some of them barely had the charisma to carry two minute long sketches. From The Ladies Man to Superstar to MacGruber to now A Night at the Roxbury, Michaels has sought out each Saturday Night Live character and exhausted every opportunity that could be done with the character.Whether or not that's a good thing or a bad thing is your opinion, but in my own humble one, each one of these SNL films has been a mediocre, less-than-average affair, with A Night at the Roxbury easily cementing itself as the worst film from the long-running sketch comedy series thus far. This is one of the most grueling comedies I've seen in quite a while; one that seemingly struggles to concoct a coherent plot and instead resorts to cheap skits that cobble themselves together and frequently punctuate themselves with the agonizing tune "What is Love" by Haddaway.This combined with the abysmal ratings makes it hard to believe that Will Ferrell became a sizable star after allowing this film to be his debut leading role. However, not long after the release of this film did Ferrell find ways to make his absurdist-style of humor known and demanded throughout the world. But when it comes to A Night at the Roxbury, both Ferrell and Chris Kattan find ways to be grating and dimwitted to the point where comedy doesn't even seem to register on the radar.Ferrell and Kattan play the brainless Butabi brothers, Steve and Doug, two young club-freaks who have a love for hard-partying. The only issue is that both of the morons never seem to get access to their desired club, the L.A.-based Roxbury due to the club's love for high-profile celebrities over the common people. By day, Steve and Doug mindlessly slave away, running their family-owned fake plant store, anxiously anticipating all the night has to offer.The plot kicks in when the van Steve and Doug are driving to The Roxbury is rear-ended by 21 Jump Street's Richard Grieco, who agrees to allow them access to the elusive nightclub in hopes the two don't press charges for the fender-bender. Finally, Steve and Doug no longer have to live in the shadows of their favorite club and can be one with the party. A subplot also involves the woman who works next door to the plant-store named Emily (Molly Shannon) at a lamp store, cutely named "Bright Idea." The brothers' father blatantly hopes that Steve will wise up one day and marry Emily so that the wall between the two stores can be demolished, effectively creating the first ever plant/lamp store.So A Night at the Roxbury goes on, doing what I thought was impossible in the regard that it makes seventy-seven minutes feel like an unreasonable, laborious amount of time for a film. With the notable exceptions of The Blues Brothers and the two Wayne's World films, each SNL-adaptation has run into this issue, only proving that these particular characters, setups, and instances were never originally intended to sustain feature-length but rather two to three minutes on an hour-long sketch show. And even at their original intention and length, I don't find these particular characters funny. The opening credits show them forcefully gyrating against women and frantically dancing in a crowded nightclub, illustrating pretty much what the sketch comedy skits were like and even those weren't that funny.Just last week in my high school journalism class, learning about satire and parody, we watched numerous faux-commercials from SNL taken from as far back as the 1970's to the present. I, shockingly, found none of them funny and surprisingly desperate attempts at generating humor from what seemed like a child creating names to coincide with stupid products. I state that this because maybe it's not just that the excitement and interest of this concept involving two brothers who frequent nightclubs and embrace the party entirely alludes me but the excitement and interest of SNL alludes me. I couldn't tell you.Starring: Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, Michael Clarke Duncan, Richard Grieco, and Loni Anderson. Directed by: John Fortenberry.

Not just a comedy but an awesome storyline as well.. I have to say I have watched this movie well over 100 times as when I was in college I let it play continuously on a loop partly because I liked the soundtrack so much. I could totally relate to the two oblivious/loser brothers who aren't ready to face the reality of growing up. I'll have to say though the first time I saw it I was not that satisfied with it and I think I even stopped watching it so if you 've only seen the movie once but enjoy comedies watch this movie again and give it another try because it's the type of movie where you catch things second, third time around that you didn't notice before.I love all the catch phrases from the movie especially Mr. Zadir " Dooey did you grab my ass" My favorite scene from this movie is the wedding scene at the end which marks the climax of the film. They way everything just came together full circle and then the new club what a perfect way to end a movie.

A friend told me about this film recently, i had seen the you tube clip with Jim Carrie where they all nod there heads to had away which is hilarious! you can imagine my excitement as i found out there was a film!Will Ferrell is why I watched the film, although will is good hes certainly come along way i mean anchorman is amazing! he still very funny in this film. this film is worth a watch it has LOL moments throughout, the dancing, the humping, the nodding its all funny! this film has a lot of catchphrases to no? yes!!!!shame Jim Carrie wasn't in the film as he is in you tube clip for Saturday NIGHT LIVE!overall WATCH IT!