MacGruber
Will Forte stars as his Saturday
Night Live character, MacGruber
- an
explosives expert, real American hero, Navy SEAL, Army Green Beret,
Marine and skilled lover all rolled into one.
After his wife's tragic murder on July 4, 1999, everyone thought he was
dead as well, but his former commander, Col. Faith (Powers Booth),
wants to bring him back into action.
MacGruber's nemesis, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), may be preparing to
use a nuclear missile in a nefarious plot, and Faith believes this
soldier/sailor is motivated enough to find and stop him. Now, MacGruber
is getting his team together to exact the revenge he so desperately
wants.
Will MacGruber be able to stop Cunth?
Does he still have the skills needed to lead an operation like this to
success?
Did he ever?
At times, MacGruber
is the best parody film in years as Forte and the team send up every
1980's action film cliché made familiar to an entire
generation or two by Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Swayze
and more.
At other times, MacGruber
feels like it was written by a 13-year old who thinks names that sound
like dirty words are the height of hilarity and unnecessary nudity you
just don't want to see will cause you to laugh (when it really makes
you want to hurl, so you might not want to get popcorn for this one).
Forte, co-writer John Solomon and co-writer/director Jorma Taccone do a
great job taking MacGruber from a single joke skit character to a fully
developed haunted hero who plays by his own rules, and, often, watches
his efforts blow up in his face. They give the audience some
intentionally cheesy dialogue to keep the comedy aspect of the film
motoring along, while including enough action to get the audience
excited (and, the action is funny, too).
Then, the actors take over. Forte is buffoonish in just the right ways,
while Kristen Wiig is perfectly naïve and lovestruck as
MacGruber's long time teammate, Vicki St. Elmo. His brash nuttiness
combined with her shy, trusting and skittish way make for a great
comedic pairing. Even better, Boothe is the perfect comic straight man
playing everything seriously for laughs.
I wish they went for more smarts and less crassness, but MacGruber
delivers the laughs.
MacGruber
is rated R for strong crude and sexual content, violence, language and
some nudity.
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