Only
a few films based on Saturday Night Live skits have managed to successfully cross
over to the big screen--the two best examples being The Blues Brothers and Wayne's
World. Those films, as well as the skits upon which they were based, offered fully
developed characters that were charismatic.
Enter
A Night At The Roxbury, a flash-in-the-pan comedy starring Chris Kattan and Will
Farrell. The films' biggest problem is that it's based on a sketch that isn't
all that funny to begin with. Kattan and Ferrell play the Butabi brothers, a couple
of dopey club hoppers whose greatest aspiration is to open their own nightclub.
This tedious flick runs out of steam in no time, offering very few funny moments
worthy of either actor. The scenes that do work spoof much better films such as
Say Anything and Jerry Maguire.
Kattan
delivers a one note performance and is completely annoying. Ferrell is surprisingly
likable but isn't given anything worthwhile to do. Both actors exhibit great energy
and comic timing on SNL, but are completely wasted in this movie.
Alas,
Roxbury will join It's Pat as one of those skits turned feature film that just
doesn't cut it. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson to the folks at SNL. Perhaps
they'll stop taking a sketch that's funny for all of five seconds and trying to
sustain it for ninety minutes. They're sending people to the exits!
