MacGruber

Movies that are based on Saturday Night Live sketches usually fall flat at the box office. Its hard to stretch one little sketch into a full length film obviously. Magruber is not a film for the sensitive. It is very vulgar and its hero is more annoying then anything else. Will Forte just doesn't chew the scenery, he grinds it into baby food! Val Kilmer pretty much does the same as the bad guy. What made me like this film isn't its star, but Kristen Wiig as Vicki and Ryan Phillippe as Lt. Piper. They both give great comic performances. Wiig has a howlingly funny moment in the coffee shop while shes wearing a wire. Actually the real hero of the film is Piper, if it hadn't been for him Magruber would have been dead several times over. In addition, Powers Boothe gives a great performance as Magruber's frustrated commanding officer. I wanted to mention that I learned something watching this film, I didn't know what a double decker was, now I do.

Why does this film get such a low-rating? Well, just because it's super raunchy and not family-friendly or Oscar-worthy. If there was a rating for hilarious-ness, then this would be 11! Rewatching is a must; there are so many great jokes written and they are delivered so well by Will Forte and the rest of the cast. They will make you laugh again and again and have a fun evening. SNL short Macgruber was one of the best of Will forte and of the writing team, delivering great jokes within 30 seconds, mocking in a sweet and respectful way the old classic series of Mcgyver and his adventures. Maybe have a look in YouTube for these SNL shorts if you are not familiar with Mcgruber and this comedy style and you see right away what's this all about. It will make you understand some references but even as a stand-alone film, it delivers. If you like (or liked) SNL and if you are a fun of comedies with Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg or Seth Rogen/James Franco, then you will appreciate the humor and the hilarity of this film.11/10 hilarious.

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.

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.

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.

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