Even Chris Kattan's pedantics and 81 minute running time don't detract

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2002)

Let me start this off by saying that movies based off Saturday Night Live skits are generally not too good. Besides a few exceptions (Blues Brothers, Coneheads, etc), most of them have fallen around the reigns of movies like Superstar.
Night at the Roxbury is an exception, it's right down the middle. It's an enjoyable, light hearted comedy with some very witty dialogue and acting. Chris Kattan is a bit weak in the lead, but Will Farrell makes up for Kattan's lacking humor and delivery. Molly Shannon is likeable as Emily, Farrell's squeeze, and the brilliant standout is Dan Hedaya is what might be his greatest acting performance of his career. Hedaya, in my opinion, is one of the best character actors of the 90s, and has been in many great roles in many great films. For some reason, his acting and dialogue fit perectly, and result in some lines and scenes that make you stop the DVD because you're laughing so hard.
The plot is very thin, there's not much to it outside of Kattan/Farrell's rompings, but it is enjoyable and somewhat unique. It results in an expected but humorous ending.
Chazz Palminteri, also, in an uncredited role (not surprisng for how this movie looked to most people), is extremely funny as Mr. Zadir, the owner of the Roxbury. He offsets the extremely unfunny and very predicatble Colin Quinn who plays his bodyguard and is in almost every scene that Palminteri is.
Because the plot is so shallow and thin, and the entire movie is situational, it weighs in at a very unhefty 1 hr 21 minutes. This is very short for a comedy, and it runs by very fast, but it was probably a good choice to keep it that length, else it might get very repetitive.
The result is an extremely funny situational comedy with a light fun story and some great one liners ( "and bring your dancing monkey boy brother with you" ). It's on my recommend list as a good movie to watch a few times when you've got a bit of free time but not enough to watch a normal whole movie. 7/10