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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

MacGruber

There has been lots of talk about MacGruber being the best SNL movie since Wayne’s World, I must respectfully disagree. While MacGruber is a good SNL movie, worthy of laughs and probably a cult following, it will never reach the status of Wayne’s World.

From what I have seen, MacGruber has very little to do with the SNL shorts of the same name, mainly because in the SNL episodes each two minute, McGuyver-esque skit ends with MacGruber failing to save the day and being blown to smithereens. For a film, you can’t have the title character blow up every time he comes into a challenge – that would kind of ruin the running time of the film very quickly. However, here MacGruber is exactly what it should be – a homage to the action films of the 80’s and 90’s where Michael Bay, Mel Gibson and muscled, long haired villains reigned supreme.

I have said it once, and I will say it again, Kristen Wiig might be one of the biggest female actresses ever to come out of SNL. Next to Tina Fey, she is one of the funniest women to have ever been on the show and MacGruber included she proves over and over again that her humor and appeal extends to film. I can’t wait to see what this funny lady does when like Fey, she leaves SNL behind her.

Val Kilmer plays the villain in MacGruber and I for one loved it. Kilmer may have the reputation of being a handful on set, but when used properly, he is more than a superb addition to any cast. Dieter Von Cunth may not be as great as Gay Perry, but Kilmer does what he does best and makes the character maniacal, humerous and fun to watch.

MacGruber is not a film for everyone, and it very much deserves it’s R rating. However, if you find yourself a fan of SNL or the skit you will get something worth watching out of MacGruber. With a few more well placed homages this could have turned into a parody the likes of Hot Shots…but it’s still no Wayne’s World.

Director: Jorma Taccone
Writers: Will Forte, John Solomon & Jorma Taccone
MacGruber: Will Forte
Vicki St. Elmo: Kristen Wiig
Lt. Dixon Piper: Ryan Phillippe
Dieter Von Cunth: Val Kilmer
Col. Faith: Powers Boothe
Casey: Maya Rudolph

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