MacGruber – TNT cinema review
You know a comedy is short on good ideas when one of its main set pieces involves the lead character stripping naked and stuffing celery up his butt. Featuring uninspired action and puerile, lame gags, MacGruber is the latest in
a long line of disastrous Saturday Night Live spin-offs.
Based on a sketch that wasn’t that hot to begin with, the film follows the misadventures of MacGyver clone MacGruber (Will Forte) as he tries to stop arch-nemesis Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer) from blowing up Washington.
Lending a helping hand is singer Vicki St Elmo (Kristen Wiig) and rookie agent Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe). Like so many Saturday Night Live films, MacGruber feels as if it’s a comedy sketch that’s been stretched beyond breaking point. There are a few funny moments (a rowdy sex scene, MacGruber assembling a team of fighters) but the plot is lacking and the script is low on sharp one-liners.
To make matters worse, you have decent actors, such as Phillippe (who shamefully also sticks celery where the sun doesn’t shine) and Kilmer, damaging their careers by hamming it up. If this doesn’t put an end to SNL movies, nothing will.
2/5
GOOD FOR: Americans.
Review: Pierre de Villiers
