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

Guilty Pleasure Series #1: Mean Girls and Rat Race

Everyone has their own favorite guilty pleasure movies. A guilty pleasure movie is something that you shouldn't like but do, it's something that's generally defined as being a "bad movie" but you watch it anyway and it's a movie that you don't care how much other people may dislike it- it's something you can't help but love. In starting this post, which I hope to continue as a series, I didn't want to start with just my own guilty pleasures (don't worry we'll get to those too) but rather what other people's guilty pleasure movies were. So naturally, I posted a Facebook status about it. Here's some of the results I got:

I decided to start with two of the popular answers: Mean Girls and Rat Race. Let me clarify something first before beginning. Mean Girls DOES NOT actually qualify as a guilty pleasure but you could see how it could be seen as one don't worry I'll explain...



Mean Girls (2004)- Happy 10th Anniversary Mean Girls!

Is there anyone who HASN'T seen this movie a million times?

Funny, witty, relatable and well-written, this movie is overall not considered a bad movie! So why is that my friends along with other people feel like this is a guilty pleasure movie? Well, it's a teen comedy and it's about a bunch of girls. Most guys would be embarrassed to admit that they like this movie a lot but actually almost every guy I know has seen and liked this film. Teen comedies have a bad rep, and for a valid reason- there's a lot of stinkers out there, but this movie actually stands out as one of the better, smarter films in that category. So you feel guilty for liking a clever, funny movie about backstabbing girls in high school? So what. I say, don't feel guilty about this one.

It's written by Tina Fey. She's a master at work here.

Mean Girls is about Caty Heron who has been home schooled her whole life finally making her way to high school because her parents want to make sure she is socialized. She likes math and falls into the "un-popular" crowd who accept her for who she is. However, when she's noticed by the popular crowd, referred to as "The Plastics" she joins them to be a spy on the inside, telling her unpopular friends about all the ridiculous things they do and say. Caty ends up getting sucked into the popular world and finds that she vies for their acceptance and she becomes one of them. The whole film is a wonderful commentary about high school life and it portrays different cliques and how far teenagers will go to fit in and just be accepted by their peers. Except this movie uses comedy instead of drama and guilty to teach teens that being who you are is what's important.

Oh, Lindsay

It's filled with comedy greats and more memorable, quotable lines than you'll be able to keep straight. It's likable because haven't most of us been in Caty's situation? Whether it's the new kid in school or wanting to sit with the popular crowd and be in their world? I bet a lot of us at 16 and 17 years old would change our hair and clothes (and perhaps attitude?) if it meant sitting with the popular crowd. Now I'm not saying EVERYONE felt that way. By the time I was 17 I was more than ready to leave high school not stay in and try to hang with the popular girls. But I can still relate to this story. Guys like this film too. It's a well-written comedy and those are hard to come by and should be embraced like this movie has been.

Wednesdays.

So, now you know that while this movie is a teen comedy it's a stand-out among the pack for it's creativity and originality. The story is logical and progressive and the acting is easy to watch. Most of these people are big stars now, sorry Gretchen Wieners :(. If you're ever in the mood for a good movie and a good laugh, watch Mean Girls... and don't feel guilty about it! This non-guilty pleasure, but still somewhat of a guilty pleasure movie is at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.



Rat Race (2001)- Wait? It's been 13 years?

I actually had a hard time figuring out what to say about Rat Race. The movie is about a group of strangers picked at random from a Las Vegas casino for a high stakes wager from casino owner Donald Sinclair. They each get a key and race to Silver City, New Mexico to get $2,000,000 from a locker. Of course they all end up getting there at the same time and they chase the money to a giant charity concert featuring Smash Mouth (if that doesn't date this movie I don't know what else will. Maybe the ancient cell phones?) who they end up giving all the money to. It's based off the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Is it a little bit creepy that their heads are abnormally big? I'm looking at you, Cuba.

The funny parts are some of the gags that they do but most of them are actually not that funny and even hard to watch. I get that it's a race for money but the greediness of the characters is somewhat disheartening. A dad for a family of four won't pull over so his daughter can actually use the bathroom? He makes her go number 2 out of the window of the moving van. I guess that's supposed to be funny but I just found it obnoxious. Nearly everyone in the movie steals are car at some point and even the casino owner played by John Cleese wages on cruel things like how long a maid can from the curtains and who will end up throwing up first in an airplane. If more of the jokes came off as actually being funny it wouldn't be so hard to watch Seth Green knocking into about a dozen cows. Honestly, during that bit I was more worried about the cows than I was laughing at any of these ridiculous things.

Seth Green, before he steals cars, delays the airport, and hangs from a cow off a hot air balloon.

So lots of people like this movie, I think it's because the cast is somewhat impressive for a film that's just one gag after the next without much more substance to it. It actually comes off like someone wrote down a bunch of "funny"things that could happen under these circumstances (I use "could happen" very loosely here) and they just lined them up in the movie one after the other. Rowan Atkinson's character is actually amusing, he's the only one who just goes to the locker without trying to sabotage everyone else. Plus his narcolepsy is one of the funnier gags in the movie, being that he just all of a sudden falls asleep standing up and random times. Also, Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s character stealing a bus full of I Love Lucy impersonators is funny too.

Why do all these characters talk about the money so much? Lots of other people try to steal it too.

One critic wrote, "Take a couple of laughs here, a couple of smirks there, and the conclusion is obvious: If ever there was a movie designed with the fast- forward button in mind, Rat Race is the one"(Liam Lacey). So why is it such a popular guilty pleasure movie? Well because it's a bad movie that people can't help but watch. It's a great example of a guilty pleasure. There's enough funny parts to stick in your mind and after some time make you want to watch it again and the cycle continues. While I am not a huge fan of this movie, guilty pleasure or not, there are many people who are. It's a basic comedy with enough entertaining gags to push along the rest of the film to a sappy ending.

Cleese is one of the funniest actors around and doesn't get much humor here for someone of his caliber.

Rat Race has a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes making it a good example of a guilty pleasure film. There's a lot of elements here that just don't work, mostly unfunny jokes, but there are enough funny moments to make the film somewhat likable. It's worth seeing at least once if you never have and if you are a fan of transportation-related humor this is definitely the movie for you. Fun fact I actually met Breckin Meyer once while working at Sony, he was very nice and very funny although I think of him in reference to Clueless before this movie.



If you have your own favorite guilty pleasure movies comment below, I might feature them on my next guilty pleasure series!