TITLE: MacGruber
STARRING: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillipe, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe
DIRECTOR: Jorma Taccone
STUDIO: Universal
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 99 min
RELEASE DATE: May 21

When a movie comes out based on a sketch from Saturday Night Live there is a good chance it will be bad. Does MacGruber break this trend? Kind of. It’s certainly not the best comedy ever, but it does have its moments that will make the audience laugh.

What makes this film funny is the fact that it does not take try a 90 second sketch and stretch it out for a two-hour movie. They use the character to parody 80’s action movies.The result is a movie that has a number of jokes that range from played-out to laughing out loud.

The plot is a recycled version of the most clichéd parts of action movies and this works for it. MacGruber (Will Forte) is called out of retirement to track down Val Kilmer’s villain who has stolen a nuclear warhead and killed MacGruber’s wife; he recruits a team consisting of Ryan Phillippe and Kristen Wiig.

The film plays to its strengths most of the time, which are Forte’s MacGruber character and the parodies of cheesy action movies. MacGruber is not some hero who has the skills necessary to save the world; he is the world’s stupidest asshole who somehow beats the bad guys in the end. His ignorance about how much of a dick he is, and his arrogance about how badass he is supply most of the jokes and they are hit or miss.

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

What keeps the film going is the constant spoofing of action movie clichés. The two characters who hate each other but become best friends, cheesy sex scenes, bad foreshadowing, the final fight between the villain and the hero, etc. MacGruber does a good job of making fun of these concepts and helps keep the film funny for the audience

The problem is that film fails to maintain momentum and most of the jokes fall flat or are done to death. When it tries to make a joke that is clearly not going to work, it keeps trying to push it on the audience.

Overall, this is pretty funny movie, but just wait until it comes out on DVD.

RATING: 6.5/10