A NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY

'''A Night at the Roxbury''' is a 1998 comedy film based on a recurring skit on television's long-running ''Saturday Night Live''. ''Saturday Night Live'' regulars Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, and Molly Shannon star.
The film sees Kattan and Ferrell reprise their ''SNL'' characters, dense nightclubbing brothers Doug and Steve Butabi. In the original sketches, Doug and Steve were often joined by a third nightclubbing brother (including memorable turns by Jim Carrey, Jon Ducett, Tom Hanks, and Sylvester Stallone), but a third brother role was dropped during production of the film.
Memorable roles include Jennifer Coolidge as a policewoman, Chazz Palminteri's uncredited role as gregarious night club impresario Mr. Benny Zadir, and Colin Quinn as his nonplussed bodyguard. Ex-''SNL''er Mark McKinney has a cameo as a priest officiating a wedding.

Contents

Plot synopsis

Cast

Soundtrack

Cultural impact

References

External links

Plot synopsis

Wearing matching rayon suits, Speedo trunks, hair gel and cologne, wealthy brothers Doug (''Chris Kattan'') and Steve Butabi (''Will Ferrell'') frequent nightclubs where they bob their heads in unison to dance music (specifically Haddaway's hit song ''What Is Love'') and fail miserably at picking up women. Their dream is to party at the Roxbury, a fabled nightclub where they are continually denied entrance by a hulking bouncer (''Michael Clarke Duncan'').
By day, the brothers goof off (and daydream about opening a club as cool as the Roxbury together) under the guise of working at a fake-plant store owned by Kamehl Butabi, their wealthy father (''Dan Hedaya''). The store shares a wall with a lighting emporium owned by Fred Sanderson (''Dwayne Hickman'' of ''Dobie Gillis'' fame). The elder Butabi hopes Steve and Sanderson's daughter Emily (Molly Shannon) will marry, uniting the families, as well as the businesses.
In an unfortunate in-car headbobbing incident, Doug shatters the window of their father's BMW 3 Series, and the brothers soon find themselves in a heated argument with their father who storms into the gauchely decorated bedroom the brothers share and denies them access to their vehicle and their cell phones. Given enormous cell phones by their mother (''Loni Anderson'') and allowed use of the fake-plant store delivery van,^[1] they quickly get in a fender-bender with ''Richard Grieco'' (playing himself) who to avoid a lawsuit, uses his fame to get them into the popular club. There they meet the owner of the Roxbury, Mr. Zadir (''Chazz Palminteri''), who listens to their ideas on their own nightclub.
The brothers meet a pair of women at the Roxbury who see the brothers talking to Mr. Zadir and assume that the brothers are rich and soon after sleep with them. After, the girls break up with Butabi brothers, they fight and Doug moves out into the guesthouse. Meanwhile Steve is forced into an engagement with the Sandersons' daughter, Emily. The wedding is interrupted by Doug, who saves Steve from marrying Emily, by blasting "What Is Love?" on his boombox. Steve cannot help bobbing his head to the music and is then saved from marrying Emily. In an act of desperation, Steve's former personal trainer/ friend Craig, opts to marry Emily admitting his longtime crush on her. Emily agrees to marry Craig as long as he promises to invest in infomercials, and protein bars. Meanwhile, Richard Grieco talks to Mr. Butabi and helps him understand that Steve was not ready for the wedding and that the elder Butabi is too hard on Doug. The brothers forgive each other and then proceed to go clubbing in their new colored suits.
The movie ends as the Butabi brothers happen upon a new club opened by Mr. Zadir. The building is unique in that the exterior is constructed to resemble the interior of a nightclub, and the interior resembles a street. This is an idea pitched by Doug to Mr. Zadir earlier in the movie. Inside, they find Mr. Zadir and learn that they are actually part owners of the club, since Mr. Zadir used their idea. Their new-found success comes full circle when they find two women in the club (a phone representative from a credit card company and a police officer) they had previously been interested in. The women agree to dance with them.

Cast

★ ''Will Ferrell'' as Steve Butabi

★ ''Chris Kattan'' as Doug Butabi

★ ''Loni Anderson'' as Barbara Butabi

★ ''Dan Hedaya'' as Kamehl Butabi

★ ''Molly Shannon'' as Emily Sanderson

★ ''Dwayne Hickman'' as Fred Sanderson

★ ''Maree Cheatham'' as Mabel Sanderson

★ ''Lochlyn Munro'' as Craig

★ ''Richard Grieco'' as Richard Grieco

★ ''Jennifer Coolidge'' as Hottie Cop

★ ''Elisa Donovan'' as Cambi

★ ''Twink Caplan'' as Crying Flower Customer

★ ''Eva Mendes'' as Bridesmaid

★ ''Mark McKinney'' as Father Williams

★ ''Chazz Palminteri'' as Benny Zadir (uncredited)

Soundtrack

#What is Love? - Haddaway
#Bamboogie (Radio Edit) - Bamboo
#Make That Money (Roxbury Remix) - Robi Rob's Club World
#Disco Inferno - Cyndi Lauper
#Do Ya Think I'm Sexy - N-Trance
#Pop Muzik - 3rd Party
#Insomnia (Monster Mix) - Faithless
#Be My Lover (Club Mix) - La Bouche
#This Is Your Night - Amber
#Beautiful Life - Ace of Base
#Where Do You Go? (Ocean Drive Mix) - No Mercy
#A Little Bit of Ecstasy - Jocelyn Enriquez
#What is Love? (Refreshmento Extro Radio Mix) - Haddaway
#Careless Whisper - Tamia
Careless Whisper by Tamia is a remake of the song by George Michael/Wham!. Tamia has 2 different recordings of the song. The other recording can be found on her self-titled debut album.

Cultural impact

In 2006, a dance bar was opened in Rehovot, Israel, named after the "Roxbury" nightclub of the film.
The "What is Love?" scene is famous among 4chan and YTMND users.

References

1. ''A Night at the Roxbury'', (1998) at Internet Movie Cars Database

External links

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