I sat through a preview of the newest Saturday Night Live character movie, MacGruber, a few weeks ago. For those unfamiliar, MacGruber, played by Will Forte, is an inept bomb-diffusing “expert” loosely based on the titular character in the 1980s guilty pleasure, MacGyver, about a dental-floss and key-ring crime-solving everyman. Most MacGruber sketches last less than a minute, and all end with him failing to disconnect the bomb in time. He dies every time, and honestly, it’s kinda funny no matter how often it happens.
It’s almost impossible to determine why some SNL sketches get the green-light from the movie industry over others. It’s unfathomable why It’s Pat made the leap to the big screen over something like Chris Farley’s In a Van Down By the River. Wouldn’t a demented take on Will Ferrell’s Falconer character, or perhaps his co-cheerleader act with Cheri Oteri have made a stronger outing than his co-starring turn in Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher-centric Superstar?
MacGruber faces even weirder challenges than the average beloved SNL character. How do you extrapolate an entire film from 45 second mini-sketches? Well, the key it seems is to do everything possible to earn that hard R rating, put a pony-tail on a now-pudgy Val Kilmer, and abuse celery in a way that would make any vegetarian rethink ants on a log ever again.
Is it a brilliant movie? Nope, not at all, but it delights in making a loving mockery of every 80s action flick cliche, and ridiculous, raunchy jokes that my inner 12-year-old laughed at. Loudly. In many ways, MacGruber makes a decent case for more SNL-based forays into cinema. Not because their every attempt at comedy hits the mark, but because on a lazy Sunday afternoon, when all I want to do is flip through my television channels and watch something relatively mindless and amusing, stumbling on Wayne’s World or The Blues Brothers is just the treat I need. Add MacGruber to that list of high-functioning, low-minded, super-entertaining SNL canon.
Check out the MacGruber trailer:
href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqySbDqTGGc
Photo Credit
MacGruber poster, Alliance Canada
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