Michaels-Goldwyn, Relativity Media, Rogue
Will Forte, Val Kilmer, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Maya Rudolph, Powers Boothe
Oh my, I was a bit afraid going in, and my worst fears were realized. It’s an amazingly bad movie. MacGruber is a one joke spoof that thinks it’s a tribute. It was really funny when they did it on SNL. MacGruber, the unflinching super hero who can fix a rocket with a rubber band and a paperclip, and can disarm any bomb using his mind power. Then repeat it in as many situations that are different locations with the same ending. MacGruber gets distracted and kaboom.
Well the sketch is starting to wear thin. They are doing things like putting Betty White in it as MacGruber’s grandmother to distract him while he blows everybody up. Still funny? Well, a little bit. But a sketch does not a movie make? What can you do? Make it bigger with bigger explosions, and add back story to try to fill in the blanks.
Well, it doesn’t work. I love Will Forte, and he’s one of my favorites on SNL for his range of characters and humor. I’m a bit Wiig’d out (doesn’t it seem like instead of SNL it ought to be called “The Kristen Wiig Show?), lately by overuse of Kristen in every skit, but she is talented.
So why did this movie FAIL big time? Well, they took themselves a bit too seriously, and that blew it. In something like Austin Powers, there were strong characters and it was pure tongue in cheek. Here, they didn’t go the “Police Squad/The Naked Gun” route with a Frank Drebbin who is a likable screw-up who had a heart of gold. MacGruber is an ass. He’s about as unlikeable as they come. The jokes (?) are rarely even worth a chuckle, and dancing naked with a stalk of celery stuck in your butt cheeks is about as “funny” as it gets here. There is a certain group out there who really defend this movie to the depths, but I was really disappointed. There have been a lot of SNL to Feature Movie failures, but this rates up there with the worst of them. I really think this will be forgotten and filed in the dusty part of the library next to “It’s Pat!”
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Movie Review - MacGruber (2010) {UR},
