Issue 151

Review of Night at the Museum

29th January 2007

A film starring Ben Stiller, with Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Robin Williams and Dick Van Dyke joining in the fun, carries with it certain expectations. Silliness must surely be top of the pile, with slap stick violence, occasional one liners and comedy tag teaming following short behind. Night at the Museum has all this in abundance, but couldn't resist an unhealthy dose of triplecheese- on-top moments alongside.

Ben Stiller plays Larry, a serial unsuccessful invention maker who takes a 'normal' job as a night guard at the Natural History Museum, in order to give a little stability for his annoyingly placid and disappointed 11 year old son Nick Anyone spot the daddy's-a-failurebut- is-gonna-become-a-hero storyline coming up?

As Larry begins his first night at work, the fun begins as the museum comes to life and wreaks havoc, all due to power of a mystical tablet of Ahkmenrah. Cue much running around and screaming from Stiller, as he struggles to come to grip with his new career move.

The majority of the film's laughs come not from Stiller, but from the double team of Wilson and Coogan, as cowboy and centurion respectively, hell bent on warfare and fisticuffs. One can't help but feel Wilson is capable of so much more than lowest common denominator comedies though, and his frustrating insistence to keep doing so renders his moments of quality in films such as 'Life Aquatic' and 'Royal Tenenbaums' increasingly distant memories.

While the premise of the film itself is original to a point, the themes within are far from so. Larry's determination to come good to gain the respect of his son recalls examples of it done equally badly in comedies such as 'Liar Liar' and 'Jingle all the Way'. While the sub narratives of Robin Williams' Teddy Roosevelt being in love with the young and beautiful India tracker girl Sacagawea and Van Dyke and co's angry ex-night guards trying to ruin the day are so numb and boring, you almost wish for more monkey peeing.

Night at the Museum is not a complete disaster. Ricky Gervais plays yet another version of himself as the museum director, but does so with a degree of comedy, while Wilson and Coogan together do provide genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.

There is, however, just not enough in the film to render it anything more that a silly Ben Stiller comedy.

James Hay