SXSW: Geekscape Reviews MacGruber!

Every year Hollywood gives us that one movie (maybe two if we’re lucky) whose greatness doesn’t spring from actually being great in any way… except being ridiculous and instantly quotable to you and your ridiculous friends. You know the movies I’m talking about and you love and remember them alongside the movies from that year that were critically acclaimed. Ace Venture: Pet Detective. Dumb and Dumber. Zoolander. Dodgeball. Anchorman. Hot Rod. Your DVD collection is peppered with them. These are the movies that send my brother and I into instant little-bitch giggle fits. When company comes over, these films live somewhere between “I can explain why I have that…” and “no shit! Isn’t that hilarious?” The “Quotable Comedies That Are In No Way Great But You Love Watching At Any Time” are fixtures in all of our hearts and collections.

Well, make room on your shelf for MacGruber. This movie is absolutely retarded in the best (and least sensitive) sense of the word. Based on the Will Forte and Kristen Wiig starring SNL skits of the same name, the feature length MacGruber begins with a retired MacGruber (Forte) being summoned out of retirement in a South American sanctuary by the US Government… who needs a little help tracking down a nuclear missile that’s been recently hijacked by his archenemy Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer… I shit you not). Along the way, MacGruber teams up with old friend Vicki St. Elmo (Wiig) and Pentagon upstart Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillipe) to stop Von Cunth, save the world and exact revenge for the murder of MacGruber’s fiancé on their wedding day all those years ago.

Sound simple? It is. Sound stupid? You bet. Sound totally fucking awesome? In every single way. Within the first half alone, MacGruber contains more explosions than all of last summer’s GI Joe and Transformers movie combined. It has the best use of pro wrestlers ever put on film and the most memorable use of a stick of celery you’re probably ever going to see anywhere (unless there’s a sequel). I found myself completely exhausted by the end of the movie (and almost wishing for it to be over) because I was tired from the endless onslaught of ridiculousness. Laughing at MacGruber literally wore me out.

That might be my only gripe with the movie and it’s probably not even be that great of one. There’s a lack of solid grounding in the majority of the comedy in MacGruber that after a while makes it feel as if you’re just having jokes thrown at you. Gags range from insults to gross out to just plain strange and it’s easy to find yourself wanting just a little bit more substance out of the ridiculousness. When Ron Burgundy boasted and gloated through Anchorman, you knew that deep down he was a massively insecure individual. MacGruber… well, he’s just a bunch of rage fueled insanity cranked to 11. Even when you think that the movie is going to give you a bit more to the character than alpha male antics (which I’m obviously not opposed to), he’s really just feigning insecurity to put one over on one of the other characters. When he and Vicki appear to almost give in to their mutual attraction, a guilt ridden MacGruber visits his wife’s grave. Where other movies would give you a little character moment with a few laughs to thread between bigger scenes, MacGruber pisses on that notion and goes for the jugular.

You can argue that so much ungrounded and relentless ridiculousness makes most of the jokes disposable after a while, and you’d be right in most cases, but you’ll find yourself too busy watching Forte’s coming out party. He really owns the hell out of every scene that he’s in and totally runs away with the movie. That’s not to say that Kristen Wiig gets totally left behind. She does a good job of inspiring some solid laughs (a scene in which she has to dress as MacGruber and work as bate is pretty great) but everyone can’t help but pale in comparison to what’s going on here. Ryan Phillipe, as the straight-laced government man, also gets huge props for playing along with everyone. And the laugh he gets at the end of the movie might be the best one. I’m working REALLY hard to not spoil things for you guys.

In the end, MacGruber is as worth seeing as Zoolander or Dodgeball, two movies that won’t be remembered as good but are still loved by some of us as “great” (if you don’t get what I’m saying… you’re just being an asshole). Even though you’ll find yourself cracking up pretty heavily in the theater, what makes the movie worthwhile will come in the months afterwards when you find yourself joking around with your friends and throwing quotes. This is not a Ladies Man or Night at the Roxbury, where you feel like someone got a little too overzealous with their favorite skit or character only to realize that there just wasn’t enough to justify two hours (or 10 minutes…). On Will Forte’s quote-heavy ridiculous performance alone, MacGruber easily has enough super action and mindless hilarity to justify a summer matinee ticket and tons of replays with your stoner buddies on DVD.