Night At The Museum
Posted: 9/2/2009
Written By: Matt
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One of the rules of cinema that we all accept as true: every film can be made better by featuring a monkey. King Louie? Yes. Abu? Definitely. The little guy who told the Nazis that Indy was in the giant basket? Certainly.
Then came Night At The Museum: Battle At The Smithsonian.
In all fairness, the monkey did not have much screen time. Maybe it should have had more. While the movie was a mostly enjoyable evening out, it suffered from what I like to think of as StoryImprov syndrome.
Take the Smithsonian. Make any and all of the exhibits come to life. What do you have? The potential for the greatest comedy since Chevy Chase splurged for false teeth.
And then the movie starts rolling, and for the sake of getting from start to finish, so much potential funny is left undone. Dan and I have had this conversation several times about the StoryImprov format. Chapter 1 starts brilliantly because so little is nailed down and we have such a sense of anticipation. Chapter 2 requires the story to take shape, winnowing away most of the potential in the hopes of crafting a single story. By the time we reach chapter 5, we are just scrambling to tie up loose ends and find a seventh chapter exit. StoryImprov syndrome. See also: Treasure Hunters.
I went in to the movie expecting very little from it. I didn't want it to change my thinking, give me a new perspective on life, or even encourage me to be a better man. I wanted it to let me find a few grins for an hour or two.
In that regard, it succeeded, to the tune of 6 stars out of 10. Its biggest fault is simply that the premise was so good that the actual delivery could never keep up.
On the bright side? Two monkeys. That's worth an additional star or two.
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