[HEADING=1]MacGruber[/HEADING]
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There?s a certain genre of movies with which I must confess that I have terribly little experience. These are the SNL movies, films which apparently begin as brief sketches on the landmark variety programme before receiving an adaptation ranging in quality anywhere from ?abysmal? to ?alright, I guess.? This all began with The Blues Brothers in 1980, an admittedly excellent film that got the sketch to screen ball rolling. Sadly, such a fact can hardly be seen as laudable as every other movie created in the same vein has been a different shade of awful, with atrocities like Coneheads, A Night at the Roxbury, and The Ladies Man serving only to mar the lustre of The Blues Brothers. In fact it?s enough to make a person wish that The Blues Brothers had originally been a disaster so that we might be spared the ensuing chain of celluloid garbage. Fortunately, these SNL movies disappeared for a decade and its sketch artists took to trying to make it in Hollywood instead of making their own cinematic vehicles. That is, of course, until MacGruber.
In the ongoing cultural character crisis of 2010, possibly stemming from the notion that the well of comic book and superhero properties is nearly dry, the new hot ticket items seem to be drifting towards properties that are either inspired or retooled from 80?s icons. There are the remakes/reinventions of the old guard slasher staples, the macho actor/actioner renaissance, both the faithful A-Team adaptation as well as a recent tribute to it (The Losers), and now MacGruber, a cinematic spoof of MacGyver before Richard Dean Anderson even has a chance to fabricate the real thing from scraps. And let?s be honest: in the unwritten list of things ripe for parody, MacGyver is right up there. The only thing standing in the way of success is that damn curse of sordid SNL movies looming overhead.
When it comes to MacGruber, everything from the original 90 second sketches is expanded into 90 minutes worth of material. Everything, that is, except for the plot, which is presumably just as infantile and trite as you would expect from a minute and a half comic skit. MacGruber (Will Forte) is a prolific and polymathematical American military hero, with no evidence presented to suggest such a thing seriously beyond the word of his superior, Colonel Jim Faith (Powers Boothe). After terrorist mastermind Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer) hijacks a nuclear warhead with designs on destroying Washington, MacGruber is called back into action to assemble a team (cue various cameos of professional wrestlers) and take care of the situation. However when his team is destroyed in an explosives malfunction, he assembles a new team with competent Lieutenant Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and love interest Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig), and the trio embark, *ahem,* to ?pound some Cunth.?
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Given the villain?s surname which is one character away from expletive territory, it?s tempting to approach MacGruber chiefly as a lowbrow satire; a film that ridicules without necessarily suggesting an underlying message. If that were the case, then the mocking of the legendary ingenuity of Richard Dean Anderson?s claim to fame would stand to be a more central device. Aside from the title, MacGruber?s armoury consisting of household knickknacks, and the odd visual gag or two, this simply isn?t the case. If the title were changed, then MacGruber would only be MacGyver-esque and a lot more mileage could be teased from such jokes.
Yet strangely, a lot of what makes MacGruber work is unspecific and could be applicable to many sub-action genres. Infiltrating the villain?s high-roller shindig can be a Bond send-up in much the same way that taking down a warehouse full of baddies can be a send-up of either macho or mafia flicks. The scope of MacGruber is broader than one might be led to believe by the title, so the film is able to exploit various nooks of the action genre for comedic effect free of predilection. This is a tremendous benefit as MacGruber, being the comedy that it is, spoils a great many jokes by succumbing to the trend of squandering the A-material in merely getting an audience into the theatre. It?s refreshing to find more beneath the surface of a comedy than what?s already given away in the trailers. Perhaps it?s even a rare example of shrewd marketing?
Beyond the meagre amounts offered of what you?d go into MacGruber expecting lies the rough shell of an action movie, and here is where the film begins to disappoint. As far as action blockbusters are concerned, MacGruber is a fairly low budget one. In fact the film was allegedly made on a budget of only $10 million USD, and it clearly shows (cf. with Iron Man 2?s $200 million USD budget for perspective). There?s nothing particularly high-octane of energetic in the brief moments of action, and when such moments do arise, they?re very cheaply executed. The explosive climax to which the battle between the American action hero and the big bad is pressing encompasses a brief crossfire in a factory setting and the requisite all consuming fireball from which our heroes flee, both of which are neither impressive looking nor elaborate. While I?m hesitant to lament such a fact too much in case this is deliberate (it?s impossible not to overlook the cheesy ineptness of the final scene), expectations are still crossed when the fiery titles seem to imply a rollicking good time.
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From a technical perspective, then, MacGruber is certainly rough around the edges. The aural aspects are unbalanced and poorly mastered, cuts are occasionally assembled disjointedly, and the acting is hit or miss. Will Forte is certainly worthy of some sort of adulation for his unwavering commitment to his character, even when he?s shuffling around with a spear of celery sticking out of his arse, as is Kristen Wiig?s effortless deadpan during the most bizarre sex scene since Crank: High Voltage for much the same reason. However such exploits become unbalanced without the appropriate antithesis to them, and so Powers Boothe deserves credit for playing such a successful foil to the shenanigans around him. Ryan Phillippe is completely disposable, however, and while Val Kilmer certainly looks like he?s trying to enjoy himself as the film?s resident megalomaniac, it?s generally unconvincing.
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I?ve wondered, recently, if ever there was truly an audience for SNL movies. That is to say, is Saturday Night Live still culturally relevant and powerful enough in this day and age that enough people will be able to make the connections beneath the adaptation? I?m not literate enough in terms of sketch comedy or Saturday Night Live to walk away from MacGruber with the answer, but surely the decade long hiatus between now and the last SNL movie is indicative of something. For that reason, I?ll happily take MacGruber as an experiment in cinematic audience competence since it gives the experience more value for me. For the rest of the world who will take the film on its own merits, MacGruber is serviceable. It?s an ironically modest film with modest goals, so let?s just call it a modest success.
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[HEADING=2]Maet now has a Twitter. [http://twitter.com/AndrewGyorkos][/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]But more importantly than that, Maet now has a website. [http://www.confederatewing.com][/HEADING]
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