<P> Night at the Museum is a 2006 American fantasy - comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon , based on the 1993 children 's book of the same name by Croatian illustrator Milan Trenc . The film stars Ben Stiller as Larry Daley , a divorced father who applies for a job as a night watchman at New York City 's American Museum of Natural History and subsequently discovers that the exhibits , animated by a magical Egyptian artifact , come to life at night . </P>
where does night at the museum take place
New York City 's American Museum of Natural History