Movie I was So Surprised I didn't Hate or, Eating My Hat

you're not seeing things, that really is Night at the Museum

I know. You're as shocked as I am. Rightly so, I might add. Ben Stiller, post Something About Mary, has become -and I say this without the slightest hint of hyperbole - the single most annoying person on earth. I hate his brand of stupid physical comedy used in crap like Along Came Polly and Duplex and Meet the Whomevers. I hate him. I even hated when he was on Extras and was funny. It made me resent the rest of the garbage that he makes that much more.

Anyway, I remembed seeing the preview for Night at the Museum and thinking, "That might be the stupidest looking thing in the history of things." I remember reading a little bit about it, because I like to at least learn up on the things I hate, sometimes. Mainly so when I argue about something being terrible, I can bring up valid points and not just look like a complete asshole. I remember when I saw that Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant of The State and later, Reno 911 fame, wrote the movie. I thought "Oh how far we've fallen."

So for a very long time, I ignored this movie, figuring it to be as bad as the previews seemed. Oh Ricky Gervais, why would appear in this awful piece of doody-plop? Owen Wilson? Fuck you. You were good in exactly three movies. Bottle Rocket, Tennenbaums, and Life Aquatic. That's it. Steve Coogan? I don't know who you are except that I thought you were the guy Alfred Molina ate. Robin Williams... 'nuff said.

Surprisingly, many friends who saw this movie said it was not bad. Even my parents liked it(My dad's favorite movie ever is The Big Lebowski, to give you an idea)! I was not to be swayed. Fuck this movie right in the face. Ben Stiller can eat a dick. I would not watch this in a box, with a fox, etc ad hilarium.

So this past Sunday I was home alone for about four hours. Since sports are pretty much non-existent until the NCAA tournament, I flipped channels for what seemed like forever. Just starting up on one of the HBO's however, was .... you guessed it, Night at the Museum. "Why not?", I thought. I was not at all prepared for what was in store.

Robin Williams role was small and well defined and he did it well, Gervais was his typically funny self, Owen Wilson was .. well... I didn't want to kill him. Steve Coogan? Still pretty sure he's Alfred Molina. The script was pretty tight. The movie was too long, and most importantly, Ben Stiller was... passable. It's still annoying to see him in that same "Good and nice but flawed guy who has nothing but terrible, terrible luck" character, but he was a bit more subdued I guess. All in all it was a decently funny movie. Not great, but I didn't want to kill myself and everyone in it, which is still insanely shocking. I'm going to give most of the credit to the guys from the State, just because.

Now, this will not make me stop hating Ben Stiller, or anything Robin Williams does. I just wanted the world to know how entirely, seriously shocked I am that this movie was not the worst thing I've ever seen. That award might just go to this movie.