MACGRUBER
Director: Jorma Taccone Cast: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe, Maya Rudolph MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:30 Release Date: 5/21/10 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 21, 2010 Shifting
on the spot from blatant parody to the ridiculous, MacGruber
is full to the brim with jokes. The
majority of them don't work that well, but there are a few solid guffaws to be
had. Working
from the "Saturday Night Live" sketch involving a MacGyver wannabe who
always manages to blow up himself and anyone else with the misfortune of being
in his immediate vicinity, the movie unsuccessfully attempts laughs from a
string of scatological references and successfully gets them every so often in
exploring just how much of an idiot its hero really is. MacGruber (Will Forte) is his name, and it's his only name, as evidenced by his personnel file ("American hero," "explosives expert," and "skilled lover," it reads). He, his old partner and fellow flannel-shirt-wearer Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig), and straight-laced military man Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) are on the hunt for a stolen nuclear warhead. That
devastating device is in the hands of Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), and in the
movie's opening act, it's difficult to tell whether writers Forte, John Solomon,
and Jorma Taccone (also the director) assumed the hero or the villain's name was
funny enough to repeat over and over again. Both get old really fast. After
a string of botched missions to get a hold of the bad guy really make the point
of how dense MacGruber is in fairly predictable ways, the movie starts to hit a
stride by ignoring the action scene scenarios and letting us get to see the
depths of his idiocy. When Piper
asks why Dieter wants to kills him, MacGruber says he's not sure, then proceeds
to tell the history of their relationship, which involves cheating on the guy's
girlfriend and other worthy reasons to hold a grudge. Taccone
occasionally wrests some humor out of the age-old clichés. A sex scene that's set up exactly like one out of the '80s (dreamy,
unlikely lighting, a Mr. Mister song on the soundtrack, and lots of close-ups)
turns into an extended bit of awkwardness, as the veil drops, leaving MacGruber
to be his "skilled" self. He
and his commanding officer (Powers Boothe) get into the same fight a couple of
times, the movie's soundtrack (hard rock) transitions into MacGruber's personal
one (soft rock), and his promise of "throat-ripping" is fulfilled a
few times too many. Copyright © 2010 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
Buy Related Products Buy the Soundtrack (MP3 Download)
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(for
strong crude and sexual content, violence, language and some nudity)
