Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (5/10): An emotional farewell to Robin Williams, a fun performance from Dan Stevens, but nothing more

“Why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer!”

Nine years after Shawn Levy first directed Night at the Museum, he brings us the third and final installment of the franchise. Who would’ve thought that the film would be so successful at the box office to invest in two more sequels? Critics certainly didn’t because the film was never warmly received. It was an interesting premise and had a charming cast, but you’d think that the magic had run off by now. I wasn’t a fan of the franchise, but I still was entertained by some of the performances and the same can be said about this third film. It has its charming moments, but there are more misses than hits here with the gags. The formula is repeated once again, but one of the positive elements in Night at the Museum is the introduction of Dan Stevens (from The Guest) as Lancelot. He is the funniest character in the film, although he plays sort of the same character as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. He thinks he is real and the gags center on that. It is recycled material, but Stevens is funny and makes it work. The other new addition is Rebel Wilson who plays a guard at a British museum, but her character doesn’t work. She plays her usual self and the jokes fall flat here. Apart from the lead performance from Ben Stiller and the addition of Lancelot, other positive things about this sequel are the returning characters: Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan) who are perhaps my favorite of the franchise, and the cameos from Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs who return from the first film. Of course the most emotional and engaging scenes are the ones that feature Teddy Roosevelt. It’s the opportunity to see Robin Williams in his final feature film. Roosevelt isn’t among his best characters, but it was still emotional to see him one last time and get a chance to say good-bye to one of my favorite comedians of all time. 

The Night of the Museum franchise is family friendly and probably one of the films most families will get together to watch during the Holidays. It is entertaining and kids will enjoy it. There is nothing fresh about this sequel, but I don’t think parents will mind. Shawn Levy has made a career of directing these light comedies and his films are mostly average (my favorite of his is Real Steel and that is probably how they got Hugh Jackman to do a cameo for this sequel). There are funny moments, but this isn’t one of those comedies that is worth rewatching because the material is recycled. It is fun for a one time watch because of the cast involved, but I don’t think audiences will find it funny on a second viewing. There is not much more to add about this film, if you were a fan of the previous two films you will probably end up loving this, but if not it really is more of the same.

My Review: The Internship (5/10)

"Can we talk about the on the line thing for a minute?"

Ok lets talk about this "on the line" thing. For a movie full of movie and cultural references one would think that these two characters in their 40's would know something about computers, Harry Potter and X-Men. It's not like these guys are in their 80's, they grew up around computers and should at least know that you don't say "on the line." I get it that this is a comedy and they used some of these situations to create funny moments, but at least they could've been a little less lazy and done something original. I really love Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn together, I think they play off each other really well. Wedding Crashers is one of my all time favorite comedies and I was really looking forward to seeing these guys work together again. But I wasn't expecting them to repeat basically the same formula they used before. It just felt way too similar without being nearly as funny, but I still have to admit that I enjoyed this at some level simply because I am a fan of these two comedians. The script was real lazy and dull, while the secondary characters weren't funny at all. Not even Will Ferrell's cameo worked here like it has done in so many other movies. The love story between Owen Wilson's character and Rose Byrne's was also one of the weakest I've seen in a comedy. And the villain played by Max Minghella was completely one dimensional. The Internship fails at every level as a comedy and only fans of Wilson and Vaughn will have an enjoyable time here. They made this film bearable for me despite the cliches and predictable cheesy ending. I would recommend you to watch Wedding Crashers for the hundredth time before seeing this film.

Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) have worked together as salesmen for most of their lives and they are pretty great at what they do, the only problem is that with the digital era at its peak their services are becoming obsolete. Their boss (John Goodman) decides to retire and move to Miami, so Billy and Nick find themselves unemployed in their mid 40's with no idea of what to do next. Billy comes up with the bright idea of trying to get a job at Google, but before they can do that they have to begin as interns and fight for a job opportunity along with hundreds of younger and talented college nerds. The manager in charge of the intern program, Mr. Chetty (Aasif Mandvi), decides to divide the interns into groups and have them compete against each other in several challenges. The winning group will be hired. Billy and Nick are teamed up with the outcasts Lyle (Josh Brener), Stuart (Dylan O'Brien), Neha (Tiya Sircar), and Yo-Yo Santos (Tobit Raphael) and against all odds they will have to compete against other tech-savvy geniuses: their biggest rivals being Graham's (Max Minghella) group.

I was surprised to see how formulaic this comedy was. It played out kind of in the same way that Monsters University did. It's as if this were the live versions of those animated characters. Shawn Levy has always had a sort of similar approach as a director in all his movies (Date Night, Night at the Museum, and Real Steel). The script was written by Vince Vaughn himself and you can tell how he took similar elements from some of his previous comedies. The entire film feels at times like a commercial for Google, and there are really a few laughs for a two hour comedy. There is some trouble with the overall pacing of the film which makes the story drag at times. The only good thing about The Internship is getting to see Vaughn and Wilson back together again being charming and interplaying with one another.