‘I just don’t want to be sued...’
With a few exceptions (Wayne’s World, The Blues Brothers), films based on Saturday Night Live sketches tend to be bad. And sure enough, A Night at the Roxbury, based on SNL’s ‘The Roxbury Guys’ is bad. Not irredeemable. Not terrible. But also not good either…
Steve (Will Ferrell) and Doug (Chris Kattan) Butabi are a pair of airhead brothers obsessed with partying, drinking and chasing women. The problem with this premise is that it was done better in Wayne’s World. And Bill & Ted. And Dumb and Dumber. The Butabi’s are essentially a less murderous and less interesting version of the Menendez Brothers. The plot, such as it is, involves the Butabi brothers attempting to get into the titular Roxbury nightclub.
Despite boasting such genuine comedy legends as Jennifer Coolidge, Dan Hedaya and Molly Shannon, John Fortenberry’s film is rarely funny. The brothers are both extremely annoying and unlikeable and weirdly most of the funniest lines are given to Chazz Palminteri’s unscrupulous nightclub owner Benny. It’s a testament to the film’s total lack of ideas that despite only just breaking the 80-minute mark, so many of the (already unfunny) jokes are repeated again and again (and again).
A Night at the Roxbury probably felt dated upon its release in 1998, and while the sheer amount of talent onscreen ensures the film isn’t a total mess, it should be consigned to the dustbin of cinematic history along with most of the other SNL movie spin-offs.
