? Newly hired night watchman Ben Stiller learns that all of the natural history exhibits, even the dinosaur bones and the rock carving, come to life after dark. Mickey Rooney, Dick van Dyke, and Bill Cobbs are his laid-off predecessors. Age-discrimination suit, anyone?
+ The instantly
grabby premise is the best thing about the movie. The visual spectacle is much
of the appeal, from the wild animals to the Teddy Roosevelt mannequin (Robin
Williams). Funniest for me were the toy soldiers flinging arrows and shooting
tiny bullets at the “giant” security guard. The ubiquitous Owen Wilson gets a
lot of the laughs as a tiny Old West sharpshooter. Ricky Gervais gets one or
two as the museum’s director.
- This could have
been a lot more creative in terms of incorporating actual history, or logic.
But then, it was written by the talent behind the Pacifier and Herbie:
Fully Loaded, and directed by the guy whose other 2006 movie was the Pink
Panther remake, so maybe it couldn’t. Since when would fired security
guards hire their own successor? And how will one guy replace three? Is he
supposed to work seven days a week? Why does the Roman guy speak English but
Attila the Hun doesn’t? I know, who cares, but this could have been as much a Wizard
of Oz-like (or at least Monsters-like) fantasy film as a silly
comedy. Even the best moments here are obvious. And the actual storyline, which
involves Stiller trying to show his son and ex-wife he’s not an aimless loser,
you won’t care about.
= **3/4 A Night
is a familiar kind of film with Ben Stiller playing a familiar role and a
simple storyline that younger kids will be able to follow. Not especially clever,
but fun for the family.
No comments:
Post a Comment