MacGruber

Movies based on Saturday Night Live sketches have a rough history with very few of them being anything but awful. The last good SNL film was almost 20 years ago with WAYNE'S WORLD and it's sequel in 1992/1993. I have been a fan of the show for a while but I understand how hard it can be to stretch an idea from 3 minutes to 90 or more. I'm glad Will Forte and director Jorma Taccone have come along to revive the hope for decent comedies based on SNL material. Based on Forte's sketch, MacGruber is an American war hero and MacGyver parody known for failing to disarm bombs in the nick of time. Here, he is brought out of retirement to bring down his arch-nemesis, Dieter Von Cunth. Von Cunth is the man who murdered MacGruber's bride on their wedding day and he's just stolen a nuclear warhead.

I hadn't seen much of the original sketches until a friend of mine heard about the MACGRUBER movie and sat me down to watch the sketches on YouTube. Frankly, I wasn't all that impressed with the sketches. Each one felt the exact same and it got less and less funny with each one I watched. I didn't hold out much hope for the film but I gave it a chance after seeing some positive reviews. I am so glad my initial expectations were wrong. This movie was funny and it got more hilarious each time I watched it. A lot of the humor in the film is downright juvenile ("Time to go pound some Cunth") but it works. MacGruber (Will Forte) is completely deadpan with his delivery and truly believes he is a genius hero while those around him, friend Vicki St. Elmo (Kristin Wiig) and Lieutenant Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillipe), are just as vexed as the audience as to MacGruber's insane methods.

The movie reeks of old school 80's action films and does a decent job of balancing the oddball humor with decent action sequences. Granted there's nothing too over-the-top about the action in the movie, limited to your basic gunfights. This movie is a comedy first and foremost. From the little bit I'd seen of Will Forte previously, I was never a fan but MacGruber seems to be the character he was born to play. His wannabe machismo, overconfidence in his eccentric methods, and dedication to his Blaupunkt car stereo are hilarious and his love scenes are some of the funniest I've ever seen. I love Kristin Wiig's quiet awkwardness that she brings to her characters and Ryan Phillipe did a goo job as the film's straight man, the voice of reason against MacGruber's idiocy. Val Kilmer must have had a great time playing baddie Von Cunth because he's hamming it up in every scene. Kilmer was probably my favorite part of the film and I'd love to see him do some more comedies.

I can only urge people to give the film a chance. I know the negative stigma associated with SNL movies but I'm hoping this film is more than a fluke and that we can expect some more decent films from their label. Another friend of mine fought against seeing the film but when I finally got him to sit down and watch it, his mind had changed and now we're constantly quoting it. Don't misconstrue my positive remarks as complete love for the film, as it still has it's flaws, but it's still a fun time and deserves credit for that.

In 1985, a show began about a man who refused to use weapons but instead used his mind (and everyday household items, of course) to outwit the bad guys. Fast forward to the beginning of the 21st century, Will forte created a character on Saturday Night Live that would have been hilarious and relevant, in the 80's. His character MacGruber stars in a one-note riff parodying the TV icon Macgeyver. Naturally Lorne Michaels thought this 90-second sketch should be made into a feature length movie.

Along with Forte, fellow SNL cast member Kristen Wiig is thrown into the mix as MacGruber's daft gal Friday, Vicki St. Elmo. A nuclear warhead is stolen and of course the only man for the job is a stale 80's parody. In this film it actually works. Stuck together like makeshift crossbow made out of Bubble Yum and a paper clip, Macgruber mixes realistic action with over the top crude, childish and witty comedy. The movies gags are a lot like Macgruber himself. When he wins, he wins big but when he fails he falls flat on his face. The hit and miss comedy will leave you cackling and rolling your eyes. The movie's strength is its repetition of jokes, which surprisingly, make you laugh harder the second time.

Forte plays Macgruber with the same weak acting as that of MacGyver. Some of his nonsense rings true and some of it makes you wish he'd shut up. Val Kilmer is given surprisingly little to do as the movies villain. The funniest thing about him is his name. All together it leaves us with a mish mash of epic proportions. Though uneven the film does reward its audience with laughs. MacGruber has parts that shouldn't fit but by some miracle the Bubble Yum holds.

Everything about this should not be funny, yet why am I laughing so much? Because Will Forte is hilarious, that's why. I remember thinking it was such a dumb idea to make this SNL skit into a movie, but they did good. Real good.

Okay, I hate to start by blatantly stealing someone else's quote, but, when reading other reviews of MacGruber, someone else described it as 'Team America, but without the puppets.' Yes, I'd say that's a fair definition - only Team America was very funny and clever. MacGruber has a lot to live up to.

When I started watching MacGruber, I hated it. I was totally with those many 1/5 star reviews I'd seen describing it. My main gripes were that it simply wasn't funny and that the main character (MacGruber, believe it or not) was completely annoying. I was practically on the brink of turning it off after about half an hour, when, to my amazement, I actually laughed.

It's possible that by watching half an hour of this film lowered by IQ enough to watch - and enjoy - the rest of it. Okay, so the second half wasn't comedy gold, but I seemed to have a better idea as to what this film was trying to be and I laughed enough not to qualify this as a complete flop. However, it's worth noting that this film bombed at the box office, so perhaps I'm in a minority here.

It's a (loose) satire on action films where the 'burned out hero' is plucked from retirement for 'one last mission.' It has been done a fair few times before - Hotshots Part Deux was done nearly twenty years ago (and it's probably consistently funnier), but it has enough moments (in the second half) to make it just about worth watching.

And - seriously - don't eat the celery.

http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

A super funny spoof of 80s/90s action movies, Forte centers the movie brilliantly, giving the comedic performance of his life. Every single time he offered sexual favors to another character, I felt like it might be the funniest thing I'd ever seen.