Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan (TV's "Saturday Night Live") star in "A Night at the Roxbury," the newest in an extremely long string of films based on Saturday Night Live sketches. In the movie, Ferrell and Kattan play two brothers, Steve and Doug Butabi, whose dream is to be let into the most prestigious night club in town and one day own their very own hot spot. Or maybe, like the movie tagline says, they just want to score. Unfortunately for the Butabis, two predatory vixens played by Elisa Donovan and Gigi Rice decide to use their wiles to part the brothers from their money. Only to discover there is no money to part them from.
Based on the sketch in which two guys bob their heads incessantly to the song "What is Love?" by Haddaway, "Roxbury" promises to be utterly devoid of any intellectual content whatsoever. While this isn't necessarily a reason not to see the movie, "Saturday Night Live"-based movies have an extremely spotty record as far as quality goes. In fact, you can count the number of decent movies that have come out of "SNL" on two fingers.
While everyone remembers the enormously popular "Wayne's World" film which was based on a comedy sketch from "SNL," very few people recall all the other spin-off movies from theshow because of their extremely low quality. Perhaps the best examples of these films are "It's Pat, the Movie," a picture based on the androgynous character whose gender everyone wants to know but can't find out, and "Stuart Saves His Family." The latter is based on the Stuart Smalley bit in which the main character gives out well-meaning but useless and overly-sugared bits of wisdom. Most people who have seen these movies would probably like to forget they ever existed. The actors would probably like to forget them too.
In the general interests of the human species, I think it would be best if these movies had never been made. Their plots are useless, unimaginative, unbelievable and thrown together in a slapdash fashion. Realistic characters don't exist in these films, and, worst of all, the movies aren't funny. Most of "SNL"- based movies feel like a five-minute sketch that has been prodded and given growth hormones so that it is unnaturally large for its species. What is funny in a short sketch just gets tiring when the exact same joke is told for 90 minutes straight. The general plot weakness and supposedly clever, but really brainless jokes only serve to exacerbate the situation.
However, while truly horrific and mind-rending movies have come out of the "Saturday Night Live" think tank, some absolutely wonderful and hilarious films have been created there too. "The Blues Brothers" is based on characters created for "Saturday Night Live" by John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, and, when translated to big screen, this pair managed to create a movie that has become a cult classic. And then, as mentioned earlier, there's "Wayne's World." That film is unique among recent "SNL" offerings because the sketch it is based on does not depend on a single gimmick like fat, androgynous people. Instead, it takes its comedic value from its quirky characters and off-beat dialogue. Additionally, "Wayne's World" is aware of and revels in the fact that its plot is so campy. Other "SNL" movies seem to believe that their absurd plots are examples of quality writing.
"A Night at the Roxbury" is definitely a gamble for moviegoers. It doesn't seem to promise much for acting or plot.
Having seen at least one of the stars in other films, I wouldn't bet that the acting is going to be Oscar level, and, having seen the plot synopsis, I'm a little worried that the country has another Saturday Night flop on its hands.
On the other hand, sleazy guys in night clubs are an infinite store of comedy simply because they're, well, sleazy. They get laughed at in real life, so why should things be any different in the movies?
However, perhaps the biggest advantage "Roxbury" has is the fact that in the "SNL" skit, the characters don't really speak so there is very little in the way of audience expectations as far as dialogue goes.
Probably the safest thing to do with this movie is to trick a few of your acquaintances into scouting it out for you, and if they say it's any good, go and see it. Go to a matinee showing just in case they're wrong.
