· a Night at the Roxbury Is a Night To· Forget

THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY FEATURES October 20, 1998 PAGEl?

GOOD · A Night at the Roxbury Is a Night to· Forget

WEEKLY JAMIE PECK INCOME proc... tng mall for natlon11 comp•nyl FrH Wayne s World a... ide, tummg fa\ orite Sat­ q,.•. poata••• No~ urday Night Li~·e shtick into box office gold lngl Bonuaest Start 11ft1Moo has been nothing but nsky bu!>.iness -you dlataiJI ~ opportu.. niiYI . might remember any one of Concht•cul'>, Stuart Sal'es /lis !·amity or It:\ Pat, and if Plea•• ruata Long Self· you don't,th•lt's the idea. Whut \\ urks on tele­ Ad*•••lopeto ad~-_,.,..... e.. vision in live-minute portion-; is more lhan likely going to suffer when the running time MPC;~- 204511t. ZJon Rd and picture size arc multiplied by 17. and . MORROW, GA30260 . that's just the problem with J\ Night at the Roxbury (** out of four). SNL's latest skit­ to-screen offering. It faJls somewhere be­ tween the Wayne highs and the Pat lows. The SNL incarnation of Roxbury, as fans -,n DY I'\ of the sho\\ already know, follows the plight of two wild-and-crazy-\\annabcs (played by Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan) a.. they peruse OXFORD Paramount Pictures - and get thrown out of- the L.A. club Sitting Swingers: Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell bring their Saturday Night Uve skit scene for violently pelvic-thrusting pretty to the big screen in A Night at the Roxbury. Live with British ladies, all the while bobbing their heads to students in the the beat of Haddaway's dance hit "What Is boring business involving trampy gold-dig­ be, er, complimented for their ability to, uh, Love?" Not much meat to build an 87-minute gers, brotherly dissension and Steve's im­ lose themselves in their characters. center of Oxford story on. and boy, does it show. For those pending nuptials with the heiress (Molly Sh­ Loni Anderson shows up with that scary as an Associate Student keeping track, the movie's biggest accom­ annon) of a ligbtbulb enterprise. cleavage of hers as the Butabis' plastic sur­ of an Oxford college at plishment is giving these loser siblings names At least that last development allows for gery-addicted mom, and Chazz Palminteri an 2ffordable price. -Steve and Doug Butabi. an uproarious wedding climax that manages does a tum as the Roxbury's owner, a goateed The Butabis • ambition, for lack of a better to pull off witty jabs at The Graduate, Say lothario fond of asking various friends and $8,2SO a semester. word, is to one day gain passage into the Anything and Jerry Maguire, all one right patrons, "Did you grab my ass?" But the 1\lltion, Housing, Roxbury, a swank, Studio 54-esquc nighL<;pot after the other. And although those spoofs are former refrains from speaking much and the Meals included. that celebs like Richard Grieco (playing him­ probably Roxbury's sole claims to hitting the latter isn't even billed- it seems that even Summer tenn option self) frequent. Once Steve (Ferrell) and Doug comedic bullseye, there is enough sporadic the on-hand talent was aware of how un­ (Kanan) finally make it inside. due to a lowbrow silliness to impress those looking evenly unhip A Night at the Roxbury is. Oh, Grieco-involved auto mishap that's perhaps for a cinematic good time a Ia Dumb and sure, those that eat the Butabis up in thetr Oxford Study the most complicated thing about the film, Dumber- these guys make those guys look weekly fragmented SNL fonnat will really Abroad Progranune the Roxbury angle is pushed a!>.ide for some like Stanford grads. Ferrell and Kattan must love this ... but what is love, really? 33-35 George Street Oxford OX12AY England • • • • • • Telephone and Facsunile: 011 44 1865 798738 E-mail: now in theatres ... [email protected] Capsule reviews of curre/11 modes by Victory Marasigan and Jamie Peck. Beloved C***1/z) A -.tudy in skillfullitcr.uy ad· aptation. Director Jonathan Dcmme 's ver-ion of Toni Morrison's acclaimed nO\cl spoon feeds lhalluli'i)'(JU all rtleui&Wr)\lay nothing to the viewer. telling the ~upcrnutural, tmldUC!IIf brll\Q u\ld h\ill\ thi 19th century-set story of Sethc (Oprah Winfrey). an escaped slave long haunted by an unforgiv­ 1 land 1 paptlr. pla1t1t, m qlan rh able sin. Winfrey herself is arguably Belmwl's ~·ou'v bt: n r cycling greatest asset, so convincing you forget she B•t ff.ll!r.rp ~rtllnq wor ln\1 to shines bright!) on a TV talk show. Though the film might be a challenge to watch, it's a dis· 11Vh 1 1111!1\1 yuiJ quieting. one-of-a-kind, powerful experience. (See the 10/13/98 issue of Tire Rctrierc>r l*·eklr for a full review.) -VM

Clay Pigeons <**) The alway-.-'>'elcome pres· Touchstone Picture~ ence of Janeane Garofalo almost sa\es thi ba­ Beloved Trio: Kimberly Elise. Oprah Winfrey and Thandie Newton are haunted by nal black corned) about a Montana nogoodnik (Joaquim Phoenix) \\ho tind'ell enough, but a c­ TV-movie-of-the-week. but On~ Tnte Thing re­ at lca\t worthy of your local second-run theater's ries of distracting plot holes .and contrivances al!) couldn't be further removed from mawki~h admission price. (10/6198) -VM C\'entually turn v.hat once was a'' ildly unpre­ sentiment: admirable restraint replace' \\hat Saving Private Ryan (****) In Steven dictable movie into a" ildly con\olutetl mess. could have been sLraight buuon-pu,hing ma­ Spaclbcrg \completely amen...c WWII epic, Tom It want~ to be Fargo, but ends up more like nipulation. ( 10/6198) -JP Hank' leads a squad of men deep mto enemy Nogo. (1016198)-JP Peeker (***'h) John Water- tidies up his act territory to rescue a soldier who's lost three The Impostors (**'h) Obvious!) an homage (well, ...ort of) for this loopy talc of a young pho­ brothers in combat. The amazing. jarring open­ to the screwball'·progrnm picturc"comc~hcs of tographer (Edward Furlong) who~c snapshots ing depicts the Omaha Beach invasion. and cer­ the '30s and '40!>.. Tire lmpmtnn exudes ujnw of his blue-collar Baltimore homctO\\ n \\in him tainly docs not skimp on the o;;ickening reality AY i de \'it·r~ which is hard to dbhke. It's too had a place m the New York art scene. Thae \Some­ of\\ ar. Ryan's important story. shattering cmo· that writer/director/star Stanley Tucci'-. screen· thing !llmut Mary might have softened the no­ tion und graphic violence make it the most l1u ILW. lilt ,,ut tu ·JiiUlu 1 uln h play degenerates anto the formulaic drivel ,md toriou~ly risque director/writer's low blows. but deeply affccung tilm since Schindl~r\ List. (7/ from rl\.~l d mAl mAla And don 1 fo standardncss which derailed many lilms of th<~t Pl'cku and ih kooky cast - especially Chris­ 2RI98)-J/' Dly vel) same era. Tucci and Olive a Piau play starv­ tana Ricci and Martha Plimpton- still prO\ ide$ Urban legend ( **1h) Another season, another ing actors in 19~' here in fullest, hutu·, sorta fun in only a \\3) that silly, year. Mel) I Strccp beauutull) plays a hnpp) Fmncc - on his own for about half :m hour slight horror flick~ can be. All the genre staple' homemaker stricken with cancer, and Renee before we begin to suspect something is afoot. are in place. from the impossibl) attractive ca.\t ZeUwcger, great a .. always, is the carcer-c..lrhen To make up for the deficit>. in charJCter and plot­ to the delirious number of fake scare-.. (I 0/6/ daughter forced to drop e\ cry thing and lake care ting. dtrector John Fr.1nkenheimcr throws in 98)-JP