Night At The Museum

Alright, I don't know about you guys, but I am getting SO tired of Ben Stiller playing the exact same character every other movie. Half his movies have the same guy in them! He is always that guy that is down in the dumps, kind of depressed for one reason or another, but is a good person at heart and deserves better, so you're supposed to feel bad for him. Then it all works out for him in the end, so you leave feeling happy. Bullshit. I'm tired of that. However, obviously he's not, because it looks like that's exactly who he's playing in his next movie. See the big poster here.

Night At The Museum is directed by Shawn Levy (who hasn't done anything noteworthy, a lot of TV), and Coming Soon gives us the synopsis:

In the film, Ben Stiller plays good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley who, despite being perpetually down on his luck, thinks he's destined for something big. But even he could never have imaged how "big," when he accepts what appears to be a menial job as a graveyard-shift security guard at a museum of natural history. During Larry's watch, extraordinary things begin to occur: Mayans, Roman Gladiators, and cowboys emerge from their diorama to wage epic battles; in his quest for fire, a Neanderthal burns down his own display; Attila the Hun pillages his neighboring exhibits, and a T-Rex reminds everyone why he's history's fiercest predator. Amidst the chaos, the only person Larry can turn to for advice is a wax figure of President Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), who helps our hero harness the bedlam, stop a nefarious plot, and save the museum.

It sounds like this is just going to be another one of those Ben Stiller movies, but hopefully I'm wrong. HOPEFULLY. Now, I have my issues with Ben Stiller. He always seems to float around the PG-13 area, and it limits his acting and creates bad movies. I've heard plenty of people say the opposite; that they like these movies, but I don't like them at all. I think that, if we could just peel all those movies off and throw them out; the Meet the Parents, the Envys, the There's Something About Marys, the Cable Guys, you know the ones, but if we could take those out, I would LOVE his career. I absolutely love his cameos (Orange County, Anchorman), and i think his sense of comedy is great. I love Zoolander, Happy Gilmore, Dodgeball, The Royal Tenenbaums (even though he plays a depressed character, it's so eccentric that it's different and I like it), but when he takes on the roles that don't allow him to do that, but also doesn't go dramatic, just goes kind of depressing comedy (we laugh when he cries kind of thing), the movies suck.

Here's the thing though, back to this movie: I don't think Night At The Museum is going to suck at all. I think it will do well. Hopefully really well. Regardless of what I think about Ben Stiller, and maybe he's not even playing the character I think he's going to, this movie features Robin Williams in the supporting role, and also Paul Rudd (Brian Fantana), Ricky Gervais (the boss in the British version of The Office), Owen Wilson, and Ed Helms (The Daily Show) among others. With that kind of comedic cast, it can't help but get people out to the theaters and hopefully be really funny.

Robin Williams is slated to play Teddy Roosevelt. I think the President role is the only one he hasn't played. In my opinion, and this is totally off topic, he is one of, if not THE most versatile actor alive. Him and Jim Carrey, but I think Williams still takes it. He can play the rediculously wild, physical comedian to perfection (because I think that's who he actually is), he can make you hate him as the bad guy, he can give an incredible dramatic performance, and he can fill in the gaps. I think he's a very underrated actor. I'm actually looking forward to his performance in The Night Listener. I don't expect it to be a great movie, but I imagine he'll be great.

So what do you think about all of this? You like those Stiller movies? You like this cast? You think Jim Carrey takes Robin Williams? Are you going to see Night At The Museum?