Review by Doug Cooper
Stars Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillipe, Val Kilmer, Powers Booth, Maya Rudolph, Rhys Coiro,
Andy Mackenzie, Jasper Cole, Kevin Skousen, | Written by Will Forte, John Solomon & Jorma Taccone
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 94 minutes | Directed by Jorma Taccone
Yet another comedy derived from a Saturday Night Live sketch. It's a piss-take of those cheesy action movies and TV series from the '80s, well made to be sure and fitfully funny, but it never quite hits the bullseye.
Will Forte is MacGruber, a supposed top class killing machine, brought out of retirement to foil portly pony-tailed villain Val Kilmer, who is in possession of a nuclear device that can cause wholesale destruction. After mistakenly blowing up his original team of lethal experts, MacGruber heads up some new recruits to aid him - ditsy Wiig, an off-key singer, and by-the-book military man Phillipe.
Their cackhanded attempts to thwart the baddie basically amount to a series of comic sketches, some inspired and chucklesome, others less so. The best moments involve Wiig in disguise, first impersonating MacGruber, then a bearded terrorist, her awkwardness and nervousness very deftly played. Forte holds the proceedings together well and gets the most laughs from sending up those awful love scenes from the '80s — the slow removal of clothes with the soppy song playing in the background — culminating in his strangulated and over-the-top sexual moaning. It's very amusing. Phillipe is admirably straightfaced throughout, even when displaying a celery stick out of his naked backside.
They all must have had a ball making the movie, and you wish some of the out-takes would appear over the end credits. Ultimately though, MacGruber simply isn't funny enough to sustain its 90 minutes. There are laughs to be had but there aren't enough of them. Half an hour would suffice.
EXTRAS ★★ Audio commentary with cast and crew; deleted scenes; a gag reel.