MacGruber

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Summer films are usually as disposable as the bucket the matinee popcorn comes in, and Jorma Taccone’s MacGruber, based on an 80’s lampooning SNL sketch created by Will Forte, could have easily been just as disposable as Iron Man 2, but – defying the odds – it is not entirely throwaway material.  It might not be the most magnanimous and heartwarming of comedic material, but the SNL spin-off, like The Blues Brothers and Wayne’s World before it, manages to remain hilariously constant with its self-referential humor.  Refusing to run out of steam like most summer-released films do, MacGruber grabs a bat and eagerly swings for the fences…and what an unexpected (but welcome) homerun it is.

Getting most of its character kicks from sending off Richard Dean Anderson’s famous MacGyver TV show, the writers (Forte, Taccone, and John Solomon – all SNL writers) provide a ton of endless, aisle-shaking laughs because their work is not, like the character of MacGruber, incompetent, abortive, and delusional.  It’s just the opposite: well-dressed, intelligent and, at time, wickedly rough.  Recruited out of self-imposed exile by Gen. Faith (Powers Boothe) to locate a stolen nuclear weapon, MacGruber finds himself ass-deep in total 80’s action movie send-off mode ala Rambo instead of just one mindless SNL skit after another.  His action movie romp is complete with a villain who happened to have killed MacGruber’s wife (the fabulous Maya Rudolph).  That villain also has a rather ridiculous name: Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer, who reminds us that he has a rich sense of humor).  In order to tackle Van Cunth and overcome his own homophobic ineptitude, MacGruber must team up with Vicki St. Elmo (the indispensible Kristen Wiig) and Lt. Dixon Piper (a straight-laced Ryan Phillippe) – and herein lays the best bit of the movie; they are playing it straight as if really in an action movie and, in doing so, responding to MacGruber’s lunatic sensibilities keeps the humor fresh throughout the feature.

To suggest that MacGruber doesn’t get crude would be a lie; to suggest that it stops being funny would also be a lie; this is viscously ripe entertainment that takes no prisoners – including its hero.  Watching Forte and Wiig together on-screen - of particular note is the most unforgettable love scene since Team America - is reason enough to validate the cost of the ticket.  Of course, if you hold your Eddie Money cassette tapes in high esteem, you might be offended by MacGruber’s earnest clutching of all-things-cheesy-and-mindlessly-80’s, but, then again, if you are offended by the 80’s vibe then what the hell is wrong with you?!?!  When MacGruber gears up for battle – not with guns or explosives, but with household items – is where the lampooning fury enters Weird Al’s UHF territory and becomes riotously funny.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the champion of the movie really shouldn’t be the hero at all – I mean, a helluva lot of people get offed because of MacGruber’s involvement - and therein is the comic situation the movie hearkens back to again and again; MacGruber is an idiot and it’s that idiocy that the film celebrates.  It’s the usual successful SNL formula – except this time it works.  The props Forte uses never go off as expected – the smoking tennis ball is a bonus - and when there is success – even a hint of one (and usually at the hands of the people he doesn’t manage to kill in the process) – he is there to take an abnormal amount of credit for it.

Yet, as far as the movie goes, it’s Forte who should take a lot of credit for the comedic highs of MacGruber.  He’s perfectly proficient, as a comedian, of taking low balls (and celery) and turning them into massive comedic hits.  You might not have guessed this about him from watching SNL, but, with this movie, his comedic fury is unleashed and it is more than capable to entertain.  Crude, rude, lewd, and sometimes clever as hell, MacGruber is the perfect example of why SNL remains a relevant cavern worth mining for comedic gold.

{pgomakase}