He Shall Be Levy

Night At The Museum 2 rung in at the number one spot this week. This was not surprising as the first one was the type of movie that caused kids to say, "Please can we see it please please please," to their parents for hours at a time until the spirit of Mom and Dad was sufficiently broken and they were willing to drive to the theater with little kids in the back seat screaming, "THIS IS GONNA BE THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER ooh look McDonalds can we get McDonalds after the movie WHICH IS GONNA BE THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER," in their ears the whole time. What did surprise me was this observation from Deadline Hollywood Daily. It turns out that Museum director Shawn Levy has racked up 6 movies in a row that premiered in either the number 1 or 2 spot. I read that and wondered when exactly I'd been transported to the Bizarro World. I thought it might be useful to do a quick breakdown of these six movies to see how we, as a society, could have allowed this to happen.

Big Fat Liar -- This was okay. I can see kids going nuts over it. It's about a kid (Frankie Muniz) who writes a story that is ripped off by an unscrupulous Hollywood producer (Paul Giamatti who probably has to explain why this movie made more money than his award nominated roles in American Splendor and Sideways). It also introduced us to Amanda Bynes who ended up being the best thing in the movie. She's an underrated actress who really should be getting better roles but that's neither here nor there. What is right here and also over there is that it's a cute family film that made a lot of money with a very low budget.

Just Married -- This, on the other hand, is an abomination of Lovecraftian proportions. Though made in 2001, it sat on the shelf for two years despite having Ashton Kutcher as its star. Why? Because it's a comedy that was extremely stupid and thoroughly unfunny. I suppose Kutcher's star power coupled with the lack of competition that comes with a January release date opened the door and let this pool of crap wash in and soak itself into the carpet that is the movie theater box office. With these two hits under his belt, Levy went on to direct...

Cheaper By The Dozen -- I like this one. Well, sort of. The remake of a couple with 12 kids has Steve Martin as the father doing something Martin does well, that being playing a guy who's often on the verge of completely losing it. This is the best movie on this list. Just Married was the worst which brings us to one that's smack dab in the middle...

The Pink Panther -- This is one of those movies that never should have been made. Steve Martin must has enjoyed being in a hit film so much that he let Levy talk him into trying to recreate Peter Sellers' iconic character. Martin did all right although his performance suffers when compared to that of Sellers. I think it was Roger Ebert who pointed out that Mike Meyers would have been a better choice but, oh well. We also got to see Beyonce Knowles giving one of the greatest performances ever given when she plays a character who looks like Beyonce Knowles and is supposedly attracted to a complete idiot twice her age. It had a few laughs but not enough to justify the movie's existence although none of that stopped it from opening at #1 and making $158 million worldwide. Unfortunately, all this led to the even worse Pink Panther 2, a sin for which Levy cannot be forgiven.

Night At The Museum -- This was just a lame movie. Good in some spots but mostly dumb and not entertaining. The kids disagreed with me though. They loved the slapping monkeys and the dinosaur skeleton and everything else. They liked it so much that we now have the sequel (haven't seen it yet) that has even more slapping monkeys and a giant octopus to go along with the dinosaur.

So, why is Shawn Levy so successful when his movies never really get better than average? Nikki Finke put it best:

Which just goes to show: never underestimate the drawing power of a family film.

With the exceptions of Just Married and, to a lesser extent, Pink Panther, Levy makes movies that kids love to go see and adults can at least tolerate. I also think I've discovered why his movies aren't very good. It's right there in Nikki Finke's comments section:

And he’s a nice guy.

Comment by Gogo

Mr. Go is right. Shawn Levy is said to be a very nice guy which is why he'll never be a great director. The greatest directors having always been raging assholes. You're not a great director until actors tell stories about you like, "He didn't like the way I expressed myself during a crucial take so he shoved a beer bottle up my ass and smashed it," while still having the actor say that he or she is absolutely in awe of your talent. Hell, Roman Polanski raped a 13 year old girl and still gets to be called one of the great filmmakers. So, there you have it. Our only hope of getting of getting a decent Shawn Levy movie is if he becomes a jerk or a criminal. Until then, let's all look forward to Night At the Museum 3.