Guilty Pleasure Series #2: Ben Stiller! Night at the Museum, Zoolander and Mystery Men

Welcome to the 2nd installation in my guilty pleasure series! Check out the first entry in my guilty pleasure series about Mean Girls and Rat Race HERE. A guilty pleasure movie is defined as being a "bad movie" but you don't care, you love it anyway. I was staring at my giant bookshelf of DVDs trying to pick new guilty pleasure choices and Ben Stiller stood out this time. Zoolander, Night at the Museum and Mystery Men. Let's go.

Night at the Museum (2006)- It's ALIVE!

Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum

The weakest of the three movies I've chosen, Night at the Museum is the most aptly named guilty pleasure film. It's a fun movie filled with a lot of comedians that are impressively notable but yet something about this film still falls flat. Ben Stiller leads with Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney among others. This movie is actually based on a book with the same title written by Milan Trenc.

Get ready for lots of green screen

The story follows Larry Daley, an ordinary divorced father in New York City who can't seem to hold a job with all of his "creative" inventions that never seem to take off (I.E. the "Snapper" instead of the Clapper to turn lights on and off) Finally Larry comes across a job as the night guardsmen at The Museum of Natural History. The only catch is that everything in the museum comes to life at night and Larry's task is to keep everything in order. Naturally chaos ensues and Larry finally finds a way to be a great man and succeed at his job, which he learns to love. He and his divorced stricken son (is that a thing?) bond over Larry's job and all's well that ends well. They made a sequel but it was much worse (sorry Amy Adams) so if you have to pick one to watch choose the first one.

It's a tiny, tiny Owen Wilson on a horse

My issues with this movie? Not much actually. There's somewhat frequent laughs throughout the film and it's campy fun and trucks along at a decent pace. This movie has a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's made more towards kids and if parents/ adults take it too serious or literal I could see how it would be seen in a more negative light. It's not something that I want to watch all the time but it's a good movie to just have on while doing other things... like writing about it on a blog. (SELF AWARE!) It's usually on TV all the time anyway, it's not on Netflix but check your TBS and FX listings every few weekends and you'll probably come across it.

Zoolander (2001)- To the left, to the left.

Anyone who grew up around my generation, early 90s kids, have seen this movie a BILLION times and I'm not even kidding. I haven't watched this movie in a number of years actually because I used to watch it so often then I would just get sick of it and the jokes weren't as fun. But seriously, blue steel is still a thing they just call it "duck face" now which is much less cool.

Blue Steel....

The thing about this movie is that it's amazing. If you've never seen it, shame on you. It's on Netflix Instant right now. The plot of the movie is that Derek Zoolander is no longer the top male fashion model and in his place is Hansel, played by Owen Wilson. Zoolander announces his retirement from modeling to reconnect with his father and brothers who are a miners but his family rejects him because of his frail nature. 

Tribal Tats

Mugatu, played by Will Ferrell, has convinced Derek to come out of retirement to work with him and Mugatu's secret plan is to brainwash Derek to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Anyway, funny things happen and the cast of this movie is phenomenal and in the end Hansel and Derek defeat Mugatu and his evil plan and everything ends well. This film uses comedy to create commentary on the fashion industry and portrays the models as incredibly superficial and unintelligent people.

Will Ferrell's Mugatu

This movie is a guilty pleasure because although it's not considered "rotten" on RT many are bothered by the blatant satirical nature of the film. I would imagine that people who dislike this film already hate the fashion industry and therefore find this movie unnecessary and overly exaggerated. My problem with this film? It's a little bit too over the top to watch constantly but is clever and funny with a decent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It's technically not a guilty pleasure because it's still a good movie with many laughs and a plot that keeps the film going. Maybe it's a guilty pleasure because of how many times you've seen it? Either way this movie is always worth another watch every so often. Consistent laughs and a magnificent cast make this a fun one.

Mystery Men (1999)- #furious

Mr. Furious, "Mama Pajama"

What happens if you put a bunch of comedians together and dress them up as "B Class" Superheroes? You get this amazing movie. This movie was made before superhero films were such a huge cash cow blockbuster event. The film takes place in Champion City in a time setting that's the future but also has a classic old school, relatable feel to it. This is a world where superheroes and villains are everywhere and common. Our protagonists are not the great heroes that you expect them to be. When we meet them they're cool for about 3 seconds before showing that they're pretty pathetic when fighting crime. When the city's resident number one hero, Captain Amazing, is captured by the super villain, Casanova Frankenstein, it's up to our rag tag team of heroes to find a way to get him back. Don't feel too sorry for Captain Amazing though, he's basically a giant a-hole who lives in egotistical ignorance. Greg Kinnear plays the character well.  Ben Stiller's Mr. Furious has the most interesting character arc and when they are about to go into battle he is no longer angry and doubts his powers. 

Our super team, ready for action

"I can only become invisible when no one's watching" is Kel Mitchell's character's power. So why is this movie... amazing? "We're not you're classic superheroes, we're not your favorites, we're the other guys." That is William H. Macy's powerful motivational speech. Each of these eccentric characters have their problems but you still root for them because they have a lot of heart. William H. Macy's character is in an interracial marriage, which is so great to see in a late 90's movie. The Bowler keeps her father's skull in a bowling ball for revenge over his controversial death down an elevator shaft. Blue Raja's mother shows him special silverware once he tells her that he wield's forks like a pro in a touching moment, "these belonged to your great, great grandmother. I was saving them for your wedding day but by the looks of things that day is a long way off". The evil villain fights people with his extra long finger nails. 

Tom Waits plays a non-lethal weapon's specialist who hits on old ladies

Kel Mitchell from 1997's Good Burger, William H. Macy Tom Waits, Hank Azaria, Greg Kinnear and Ben Stiller all in one movie? There's also cameo's from Cee Lo Green and Dane Cook. This movie is an absolutely fantastic cult classic hit. It's a spoof of superheroes and has an impressive cast. This movie is one of my personal favorite guilty pleasure films. It's fun and funny and kind of weird but you love it anyway, just like the characters. It's definitely not a typical superhero movie, especially by today's standards but something to keep in mind is that this movie was made 15 years ago before the outrageously expensive and extravagant superhero movies that we are used to now with over the top special effects. Also, it has Smash Mouth songs because really, isn't that what makes a guilty pleasure something wonderful?

One of my favorite guilty pleasures, "may the forks be with us".

It's a clever movie, "Lance Hunt wears glasses, Captain Amazing doesn't wear glasses." "He takes them off when he transforms." "That doesn't make sense he wouldn't be able to see." My problems with it? I don't really have any. You have to go into this movie knowing that it's a comedy and not something to be taken too seriously. It's supposed to be ridiculous and if you have that frame of mind you'll enjoy this film. This movie is still considered pretty good and therefore technically doesn't qualify as a proper guilty pleasure but it's a self aware cult hit and it does a good job of being an entertaining film. Some critics argue that this movie is undisciplined and messy and I can definitely see that but it's just fun at the end of the day. "We've got a blind date with destiny and it looks like she's ordered the lobster." It's original, funny, and a joy to watch. Just watch this movie. Trust me. It's not available to stream but rent it on iTunes for $3.99