MACGRUBER!!!!!!!!!!!!

MacGruber – Jorma Taccone

Based on a famous Saturday Night Live sketch, a comedy skit show from the US which happens live every two weeks with a guest host, normally actors and a musical guest who sometimes get involved in the skits; it sees one of the famous skits being turned into a feature length movie with a whole host of celebrity cameos and strange appearances. With Will Forte playing MacGruber, a funny take on the famous television character MacGyver, who can get out of ridiculous situations using everyday objects, alongside Kristen Wiig playing Vicki St. Elmo, friend and colleague of MacGruber and Lt. Dixon Piper, a young lieutenant forced to help him in his mission to take down, and get this: Dieter von Cunth played by the awesomely cool Val Kilmer. The plot is pretty simple from there but the names and the characters are hilarious but unfortunately a normal 3 minute sketch is funnier than stretching out a joke that should only last the long. Sure it has moments of being laugh out loud funny but overall feels rushed and not fleshed out as much as possible. Directed by one of the brains behind the very funny group The Lonely Island, the experience from directing videos that are also ¾ minutes long doesn’t help. It seems the whole project is based on being so short than when stretched, is very thin.

MacGruber must take down von Cunth after finding out that Cunth killed his wife on their wedding day with a bazooka, and for being asked to track him down about a possible weapon being stolen from the hands of the US army. With the help of a few friends including a rag tag team of mercenaries, who you’ll recognise as famous wrestlers, who after a horrible accident, can’t help him anymore, so MacGruber finds a new team to take down Cunth. It’s funny in certain scenes but in others doesn’t quite work. This film without knowing the background would seem strange and i reckon the audiences won’t get half of the jokes without seeing the sketches. Luckily, knowing what MacGruber is and how funny it can be is it’s gain and its downfall. Knowing that the sketches can be hilarious, it doesn’t hit the right buttons for me, maybe if they went back to the drawing board and put some more effort it into, it might work better.

Overall a funny film in parts with some good characters and Will Forte doing the best with a character who only works in short bursts.

6/10

Simon Childs