MacGruber Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Will Forte as MacGruber
Kristen Wiig as Vickie St. Elmo
Ryan Phillippe as Lt. Dixon Piper
Val Kilmer as Dieter Von Cunth

Plot: MacGruber is called into action to take down his archenemy, Dieter Von Cunth, who's has obtained a nuclear warhead.

Review: Who knew that a 60 second skit on Saturday Night Live could even be turned into a full length movie? I mean, sure it's been done before but could it be done in a time when every movie is in 3D and most "good" movies approach 2 hours or more? Yes, it can be done.

For those who have not seen the MacGruber skit on Saturday Night Live, ill let you know the usual scene. MacGruber, played by Will Forte, is sent with Vickie St. Elmo, played by Kristen Wiig, to defuse a bomb or get someone out of a certain situation. Usually, it never works and the bomb explodes or time expires. With that said, that makes it funnier that this kind of skit got turned into a movie.

This movie follows MacGruber after he's lost everything, presumed dead and the world needs him the most. He puts together a team to take down his rival, Dieter Von Cunth. When that plan hilariously fails, he must do with what he has to take down his rival.

People who go see MacGruber have to understand not to take this movie seriously. A lot of good movies, especially comedies, get ruined by people who just take the movie too seriously and look at some of the ridiculous events in the movies as flaws. Just sit back, relax and get ready to laugh.

For both Will Forte and Kristen Wiig, there probably was no training needed to get into character. These guys have played these characters many times before so watching them in this movie was very natural. Glad to see both Ryan Phillippe and Val Kilmer in this movie, making strong performances. It seemed like many years ago Phillippe was destined to be a big star in Hollywood. He's just been flying under the radar for years and years but it was fun to watch him in MacGruber.

Of course, this is still a comedy movie as well as an action movie so I must comment on both. To me, the comedy was top notch. I couldn't stop laughing at times, sometimes about scenes that happened 5 minutes ago. In terms of comedy, MacGruber matches up with movies like The Hangover, Anchorman and Knocked Up.

The action is very much like any other action movie, things explode, guns are blazing and running to survive are all present. What makes this a little better than it sounds is that it's MacGruber. You would think a movie as silly and hilarious as MacGruber is wouldn't have a satisfying amount of action but it does!

They're are cameos galore in MacGruber. From long time SNL actors like Maya Rudolph to many WWE wrestlers.

Overall, MacGruber is flat out hilarious. Some people may not like it because they may not like SNL period or they dont think the movie takes itself seriously. Well that's on them, they miss out on a tremendous comedy. Ironic on Memorial Day that I review this movie but I had to give some respect to America's funniest soldier.

Rating: 4.5 Out of 5.