A Throat-Rippin' Good Time (MacGruber Review)

If I haven't mentioned it before, here I shall again: I live in Austin, TX.  Possibly the single best reason to live here (if you don't like the concert scene) is a chain of movie theaters called Alamo Drafthouse.  These are movie theaters where each row of seats has before it a long counter, and you order excellent food that's brought right to your seat.  One of the best effects of having this kind of setup - for the audience at least - is that, if you aren't hungry, then no worries because you've just saved money: Drafthouse's tickets are cheaper than other theaters since they make most of their money from their delicious food and their large selection of beers.

The REAL reason to go to Alamo, though, is what I call their "pre-game show".  For every single movie, they collect all sorts of funny/cheesy/ancient clips from different shows or movies that have something to do with the movie that you're about to watch.  For Star Trek, they showed old, hilarious clips from the original TV show that included a fantastic montage of Dr. McCoy's "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a [insert random noun, like escalator]!"  For Doom, we enjoyed watching video footage of a really terrible gamer attempting to play the latest Doom game.  For Harry Potter, we watched several clips of amateur magicians.

For MacGruber, we were graced with the showing of almost every single MacGruber skit ever shown.

MacGruber is based on a character developed for Saturday Night Live as a spoof of Richard Dean Anderson's popular mulleted MacGyver.  Each SNL episode to feature MacGruber contained three episodes roughly a minute in length each, spread throughout the hour.  Here's an introductory episode (sorry for the poor quality):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy_IxhLL5vQ

Each one began with a super-macho-kickass intro in the style of the Team America theme song, each time with different lyrics that set up the premise for the skit.  From there, MacGruber and two buddies - always a guy and a girl - find themselves trapped in a small room with a bomb that has "20 seconds left!!!", as the girl always screams.  MacGruber tells them, in a calm, confident manner, to pass him the various objects near them ("Vicki, throw me that rubber band!"  "You got it, MacGruber!!").  Soon, though, something goes wrong, like the skit in which MacGruber uses the collected items to make what looks like a Bloody Mary with a stick of celery in the middle, or the one in which he finds out that his estranged son (played by Shia LeBouf in a mullet wig) is gay, and general hilarity ensues until time runs out and, at the end of every single skit, the scene ends with a gigantic explosion.

Thanks to Alamo Drafthouse, we got to see practically every single episode, along with a ridiculous scene from a MacGyver episode in which he uses chocolate bars as a way of plugging up a sulfur leak.  I can't recommend this theater company enough.  The pre-game show provides you not only with some great entertainment but also some key background knowledge concerning the movie you're about to see.  On a few occasions, I've actually enjoyed Alamo's pre-game show more than the movie itself.

The fact that they could make a full-length movie off of something like the MacGruber skits is a testament to the writers, but in fact, the movie's actually pretty good.  This is a spoof and a glorious send-up to all of the macho-man movies starring big, muscley men like Ah-nuld and Stevan Segal as well as, obviously, the MacGyver TV series.  The plot is pleasantly basic - an evil mastermind (played by a pudgy Val Kilmer) hijacks some big missiles in Russia, so the US military brings MacGruber out of retirement to head a team of experts to take him down.

The movie's full of classic moments from your typical Rambo sort of film: the reluctant hero being pulled from a peaceful existence in some obscure South American village; the military general with complete faith in the hero from long ago (with sixteen purple hearts!); the young lieutenant who is skeptical of the hero; the dramatic return to civilization by the hero long-declared dead (one of the funniest scenes); the assembling of an impressive team of old friends who, when fully collected, walk together in a slow-mo shot in the manner of Armegeddon; the final, hesitant teammate who ends up being the most important; the continued trust in the hero by the general who should, by all accounts, put more than just three people on a mission that could potentially destroy the world; the "I'm going to tell you exactly how I'm going to kill you" scene; and even the overly-done tiger growl added to explosion sound-effects.  MacGruber knows its sources, and it exploits them to a degree to which most of today's cinematic spoofs can only dream.  Creators of Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and You Got Served, take note.

That being said, this movie is crude.  Just know that going in.  I haven't seen so many male butts on screen since Braveheart, and none of them had celery stalks sticking out of their cheeks.  This is very much an R-rated film.  I heard from a friend that she was at a movie where someone had taken his young son.  They walked out halfway through.  I was shocked that they'd even stayed that long.  But like I said, this is a crude, crude movie.  That's not to say that the jokes are cheap; in fact, some of the cleverest moments came from scenes of indescribable vulgarity, but that's just the flavor of the film.  It is what it is, and what it is is a film where throats are ripped out, sexual "services" are offered from one man to another, and the villan's name is "Dieter Von Cunth".  Yeah.

MacGruber as a character was just as he is in the SNL skits: cocky, confident, and utterly clueless.  He's narcissistic.  He dresses as though from the 80s.  He has a fantastic mullet.

He's the last person I would want on my team.

He has no friggen' idea how to make or disarm a bomb with common, everyday items.  Will Forte has this character down, and it shows.  Ryan Phillipe does a commendable job as the straight-man to MacGruber, and Kristin Wiig is similarly excellent as Vicki - straight out of the SNL skits!  The three of them made for a solid core to the movie, though Val Kilmer's portrayal of the villian was somewhat lacking.  I love Kilmer, but something felt a little off.  I don't think he cared that much about the role.  Then again, he wasn't given much.  Bit of comedic potential lost there, but oh well.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed the movie.  It's less offensive than anything made by Trey Stone and Matt Parker, but there were plenty of South Park-style moments where I kept thinking "I really should NOT be laughing at this."  And yet I did.  I did plenty often.  But if it makes you uncomfortable to know that this film contained the most absurd sex scene I've ever seen (in its own, special way), or that MacGruber waddles around with his pants around his ankles and a celery stick protruding from his arse (AND he eats it afterward without washing it first), then perhaps you should sit this one out and enjoy the slightly less-offensive skits on SNL.