Ben Stiller

Madagascar (Widescreen Edition)

Move it! Move it! for Madagascar the #1 Family Comedy of the Year from the studio that brought you Shrek and Shark Tale. When four pampered animals from New York s Central Park Zoo accidentally find themselves shipwrecked on the exotic island of Madagascar they discover it really IS a jungle out there! Ben Stiller Chris Rock David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith headline an all-star cast of hilarious animals including a quartet of mischievous penguins and legions of lemurs led by the outrageous King Julien. Madagascar is a roaring good family film that you ll go wild for again and again!System Requirements:Running Time 86 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: PG UPC: 678149456622 Manufacturer No: 94566

The penguins steal the show. In the sprightly Madagascar, a mid-life crisis inspires Marty the Zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) to escape from his lifelong home, a New York zoo. His equally pampered friends--Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer)--then escape to bring him back. Unfortunately, their attempt at damage control persuades zoo officials that the animals are unhappy, so all four get shipped to an animal preserve in Kenya...only a squad of maniacal penguins change the destination to Antarctica. The quartet end up on an island where, in addition to meeting some hedonistic lemurs, they learn about the food chain--and that Alex is a different link on the chain from the other three. Madagascar doesn't achieve the snappy perfection of a Pixar movie, but it tops most other computer-animated efforts; the collision of friendship and predator instincts makes for an unusually gripping conflict. The vocal performances of the central characters is serviceable, but Sacha Baron Cohen (Da Ali G Show) provides topnotch lunacy as the lemur king, and the penguins--voiced mostly by the animators themselves--are the best thing in the movie. --Bret Fetzer

Night at the Museum (Widescreen Edition)

Ben Stiller leads an all-star cast including Robin Williams and Dick Van Dyke in this hilarious blockbuster hit. When good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley (Stiller) is hired as night watchman at the Museum of Natural History he soon discovers that an ancient curse brings all the exhibits to life after the sun sets. Suddenly Larry finds himself face-to-face with a frisky T. rex skeleton tiny armies of Romans and cowboys and a mischievous monkey who taunts him to the breaking point. But with the help of President Teddy Roosevelt (Williams) Larry may just figure out a way to control the chaos and become a hero in his son's eyes. Boasting jaw-dropping special effects and laugh-out-loud moments Night at the Museum is your ticket to nonstop fun!Running Time: 105 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 024543417170 Manufacturer No: 2241717

An irresistible concept meets computer-generated wonders in Night at the Museum, inspired by a 1993 children's book by Milan Trenc. Ben Stiller stars as Larry Daley, an underachieving inventor waiting for his ship to come in while getting evicted from one apartment after another for lack of funds. Larry's son needs some stability, so the well-meaning ne'er-do-well takes a job as night watchman at New York City's Museum of Natural History. What the soon-to-retire guards (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs) don't tell him is that an ancient pharaoh's tablet in the museum causes everything on display to come to life at night. Thus, Larry meets representations of Teddy Roosevelt, Attila the Hun, fire-worshipping cavemen, and Roman Empire soldiers, and learns to cope with an excitable T-Rex and man-eating, ancient animals. The film might have left things at that, but an added story element gives Night at the Museum some extra urgency and excitement, especially fo! r kids: Larry becomes responsible for keeping this nightly miracle going and preventing anything in the museum from dying due to exposure to sunrise. Computer effects, as well as wildly imaginative costumes and makeup, help make the film appeal to the 8-year-old in everyone. Director Shawn Levy (The Pink Panther) works with a hugely talented cast, including Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, and Steve Coogan. --Tom Keogh

Night at the Museum Extras

Ben Stiller on Director Shawn Levy

Ricky Gervais on the size of his trailer and eating cheese.

Beyond Night at the Museum

See What DVDs Meant Special Effects to Amazon DVD Editors As Kids

More Adventure Films for Kids & Family

The Night at the Museum Paperback Book

Stills from Night at the Museum

The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection)

The family of three former child prodigies reunite after learning that their father, Royal Tenenbaum, has a terminal illness.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD

In a fitting follow-up to Rushmore, writer-director Wes Anderson and cowriter-actor Owen Wilson have crafted another comedic masterwork that ripples with inventive, richly emotional substance. Because of the all-star cast, hilarious dialogue, and oddball characters existing in their own, wholly original universe, it's easy to miss the depth and complexity of Anderson's brand of comedy. Here, it revolves around Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), the errant patriarch of a dysfunctional family of geniuses, including precocious playwright Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), boyish financier and grieving widower Chas (Ben Stiller), and has-been tennis pro Richie (Luke Wilson). All were raised with supportive detachment by mother Etheline (Anjelica Huston), and all ache profoundly for a togetherness they never really had. The Tenenbaums reconcile somehow, but only after Anderson and Wilson (who costars as a loopy literary celebrity) put them through a compassionate series of quirky confrontations and rekindled affections. Not for every taste, but this is brilliant work from any perspective. --Jeff Shannon

Happy Gilmore (Widescreen Special Edition)

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 23-AUG-2005
Media Type: DVD

Adam Sandler fans are sure to enjoy this no-brainer comedy, but everyone else is strongly advised to proceed with caution. Before scoring a more enjoyable hit with his 1998 comedy The Wedding Singer, the former Saturday Night Live goofball played Happy Gilmore, a hot-tempered guy whose dreams of hockey stardom elude him. But when he discovers his gift for driving golf balls hundreds of yards, he joins a pro tour to win the prize money needed to rescue his beloved grandma's home from IRS repossession. The trouble is, Happy's not so happy. He's got a temper that frequently flares on the golf course (he even dukes it out with celebrity golfer Bob Barker), but a retired golf pro (Carl Weathers) and a compassionate publicist (Julie Bowen) help him to perfect his putting game and adjust his confrontational attitude. How much you enjoy this lunacy depends on your tolerance for Sandler's loudmouthed schtick and a shocking number of blatant product-placement endorsements, but if you're looking for broad comedy you've come to the right teeoff spot. --Jeff Shannon

Night at the Museum (Full Screen Edition)

Ben Stiller leads an all-star cast including Robin Williams and Dick Van Dyke in this hilarious blockbuster hit. When good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley (Stiller) is hired as night watchman at the Museum of Natural History he soon discovers that an ancient curse brings all the exhibits to life after the sun sets. Suddenly Larry finds himself face-to-face with a frisky T. rex skeleton tiny armies of Romans and cowboys and a mischievous monkey who taunts him to the breaking point. But with the help of President Teddy Roosevelt (Williams) Larry may just figure out a way to control the chaos and become a hero in his son's eyes. Boasting jaw-dropping special effects and laugh-out-loud moments Night at the Museum is your ticket to nonstop fun!Running Time: 105 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 024543417224 Manufacturer No: 2241722

An irresistible concept meets computer-generated wonders in Night at the Museum, inspired by a 1993 children's book by Milan Trenc. Ben Stiller stars as Larry Daley, an underachieving inventor waiting for his ship to come in while getting evicted from one apartment after another for lack of funds. Larry's son needs some stability, so the well-meaning ne'er-do-well takes a job as night watchman at New York City's Museum of Natural History. What the soon-to-retire guards (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs) don't tell him is that an ancient pharaoh's tablet in the museum causes everything on display to come to life at night. Thus, Larry meets representations of Teddy Roosevelt, Attila the Hun, fire-worshipping cavemen, and Roman Empire soldiers, and learns to cope with an excitable T-Rex and man-eating, ancient animals. The film might have left things at that, but an added story element gives Night at the Museum some extra urgency and excitement, especially fo! r kids: Larry becomes responsible for keeping this nightly miracle going and preventing anything in the museum from dying due to exposure to sunrise. Computer effects, as well as wildly imaginative costumes and makeup, help make the film appeal to the 8-year-old in everyone. Director Shawn Levy (The Pink Panther) works with a hugely talented cast, including Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, and Steve Coogan. --Tom Keogh

Night at the Museum Extras

Ben Stiller on Director Shawn Levy

Ricky Gervais on the size of his trailer and eating cheese.

Beyond Night at the Museum

See What DVDs Meant Special Effects to Amazon DVD Editors As Kids

More Adventure Films for Kids & Family

The Night at the Museum Paperback Book

Stills from Night at the Museum

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

Actors/musicians Jack Black and Kyle Gass bring their infamous rock duo Tenacious D to the big screen! The hilarious story of how "The D" became the self-proclaimed greatest band on earth Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny follows the pair's plan to steal a supernatural guitar pick on display in a rock-and-roll museum in order to create a masterpiece song that will cement their place in music history.Running Time: 93 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 794043106989 Manufacturer No: N10698

You don't have to be a munchie-loving stoner or an aspiring rock god to enjoy Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, but it helps. A dozen years after they introduced their mock-rock power duo on the Los Angeles club scene, Jack Black and Kyle Gass finally got the movie showcase (a partial spinoff from the D's short-lived HBO series) their fans had been waiting for, and it's a rockin' romp with plenty of crude laughs that will hit home for anyone who's ever played air guitar to Meat Loaf's "Bat out of Hell." It's a Beavis and Butt-head-like origin story, recalling the legend (ahem) of how JB (Black) and KG (Gass) met, bonded over bong-hits and rock-operatic guitar licks, then set out (on a tip from a crazed guitar-store clerk played by Ben Stiller) to find the mythic pick of destiny, used by all guitar gods and said to be fashioned from the tooth of Satan. Their quest includes a variety of well-cast cameos (including Tim Robbins, Meat Loaf, and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl as Satan himself), and there's plenty of flatulence, drug humor, at least one hilarious fantasy sequence, and outrageous sight gags too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say, it's about 90 minutes of lowbrow indulgence, and some of the jokes fall flat, but if you're a headbanger at heart, you'll know what Tenacious D is riffing on, and the sweet licks (also available on the soundtrack CD) will sound that much sweeter. If you're not ready to RAWK, this potential cult favorite may not be for you... but give it try anyway. It may not be better than Citizen Kane, but if you're properly stoked, it comes close to rock & roll heaven. --Jeff Shannon

Dodgeball - A True Underdog Story (Unrated Edition)

How's this for impressive trivia: Dodgeball faced off against The Terminal in opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in box-office millions. That's no mean feat for a newcomer, but Thurber's lowbrow script and rapid-fire direction--along with a sublime cast of screen comedians--proved to be just what moviegoers were ravenous for: a consistently hilarious, patently formulaic romp in which the underdog owner of Average Joe's Gym (Vince Vaughn) faces foreclosure unless he can raise $50,000 in 30 days. The solution: A dodgeball tournament offering $50K to the winners, in which Vaughn and his nerdy clientele team up against the preening, abhorrently narcissistic owner (Ben Stiller) of Globo Gym, who's threatening a buy-out. That's it for story; any 5-year-old could follow it with brainpower to spare. But Thurber, Vaughn, Stiller, and their well-cast costars (including Stiller's off-screen wife, Christine Taylor) keep the big laughs coming for 96 nonsensical minutes. With spot-on cameos by champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong, David Hasselhoff, Hank Azaria, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner, and a crudely amusing coda for those who watch past the credits, Dodgeball is no masterpiece, but you can bet Spielberg was unexpectedly humbled by its popular appeal. --Jeff Shannon

You'll dodge, duck, dip, dive. . . and laugh out loud watching Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller settle their differences in a winner-take-all dodgeball competition. Under the painful tutelage of legendary ADAA champ, Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), Peter LaFleur (Vaughn) and his Average Joes take on the Purple Cobras, led by egomaniacal fitness guru, White Goodman (Stiller). It's an over-the-top underdog tale filled with hilarious sight gags and balls-out fun!

Madagascar (Full Screen Edition)

The penguins steal the show. In the sprightly Madagascar, a mid-life crisis inspires Marty the Zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) to escape from his lifelong home, a New York zoo. His equally pampered friends--Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer)--then escape to bring him back. Unfortunately, their attempt at damage control persuades zoo officials that the animals are unhappy, so all four get shipped to an animal preserve in Kenya...only a squad of maniacal penguins change the destination to Antarctica. The quartet end up on an island where, in addition to meeting some hedonistic lemurs, they learn about the food chain--and that Alex is a different link on the chain from the other three. Madagascar doesn't achieve the snappy perfection of a Pixar movie, but it tops most other computer-animated efforts; the collision of friendship and predator instincts makes for an unusually gripping conflict. The vocal performances of the central characters is serviceable, but Sacha Baron Cohen (Da Ali G Show) provides topnotch lunacy as the lemur king, and the penguins--voiced mostly by the animators themselves--are the best thing in the movie. --Bret Fetzer

Keeping the Faith

Keeping the Faith, Edward Norton's directorial debut, centers on Jake (Ben Stiller) and Brian (Norton), a rabbi and a priest who've been best friends since childhood. Both find their callings and grow into strong spiritual leaders for their community. The clever and occasionally slapstick comedy as Jake and Ben find their places in the religious community is precisely timed, and the film begins with a bang. Yet when childhood friend Anna (Jenna Elfman)--the perfect woman, a cross between "Jonny Quest and Tatum O'Neal"--finds them after all these years, both men fall for the stunning woman who is married to her career and her vibrating cell phone. But what starts as the making of a great joke (of course, the priest is sworn to celibacy and there's not much of a market for a rabbi married to a gentile) turns into a somewhat mawkish romance with mixed messages about the meaning of faith and the power of love. When Anna and Jake secretly begin a tryst, "just for fun," they of course fall in love, which is where the movie begins to unravel, as Anna is oblivious to the turmoil Jake might be feeling in having to choose between his faith and her. Jake turns into a total schmuck, Brian into a drunken idiot, and every secondary character becomes a clichéd stereotype, right down to the yentas in the synagogue and the kindly mentor (director Milos Forman) who guides Brian. However, despite the muck, Norton is surprisingly sympathetic and Elfman is an adorable heroine who helps bring some shining, fun moments to a mediocre film. --Jenny Brown

Ben Stiller (THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS), Jenna Elfman (EdTV), and Edward Norton (FIGHT CLUB) star in KEEPING THE FAITH, a sexy romantic comedy so fresh and funny, you'll fall head over heels in love! Jake Schram (Stiller) and Brian Finn (Norton) are single, successful, extremely popular guys who have been best friends since, well, forever. They are about to be reunited with their other best childhood buddy -- the feisty, lanky tomboy, Anna (Elfman). Anna has grown into a high-powered workaholic beauty whose reentry into their lives turns this old circle of friends into a love triangle -- a very complicated one at that, because Jake's a rabbi and Brian is a priest. But have faith -- this gem is going to steal your heart.

Mystery Men

Ever wonder if there was a class system in the world of superheroes? After all the big names like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, etc., who were the supporting players? The folks assigned to the less-than-stellar gigs of saving only a small part of the world? According to this intermittently successful send-up of comic book heroism, there are indeed masked heroes who struggle and toil for their moment in the super sun. Based on the Dark Horse comic book series, Mystery Men follows the travails of three B-list avengers--Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller), the Shoveler (William H. Macy), and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria)--as they fight to make themselves known to the citizens of Champion City, quite difficult to do when the flashy Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear, never better) takes all the cool gigs and has product endorsements up the ying-yang. According to them, it's all a matter of timing--never mind that Mr. Furious never rises above a snit, or that the Blue Raja wears green. Their big break comes when Captain Amazing is abducted by the evil Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), and it's up to this motley crew to save Champion City.

Blessed with a wondrously gifted comic cast and full of droll details, Mystery Men struggles in fits and spurts towards its climax. Transcendently witty in parts, it's also woefully sophomoric in others. Literally, this is the kind of movie in which someone gets off a brilliant line and then sits on a fork. Still, when this movie is rolling, it's gleefully on target, thanks primarily to the mordantly cocky Stiller and Janeane Garofalo as a latecomer to the superhero gang; her secret weapon is a bowling ball in which her dead father's head is encased. The comic chemistry between these two is fierce, and when you add the dryly funny Macy and the endearing Azaria (who finally gets a chance to let loose with his comic gifts), it's a hilarious joyride. Too bad that the gas tank is only half-full; this stunning cast deserves a first-rate vehicle. With Tom Waits as a weapons expert, Claire Forlani as the requisite babe, and Paul Reubens as the Spleen, the world's most flatulent superhero. --Mark Englehart