Driven by Will Forte’s fantastic performance, MacGruber is a hilarious homage to all those eighties action B movies. It takes the basic premise of a lonely hero taking on an evil mastermind and just rips it to shreds! Suffice it to say that our villain in this movie is called Cunth. And you know what that means, there will be a lot of Cunth jokes. The humor in general is quite outrageous and some might say it’s your garden variety of toilet humor. Butt I fucking loved it! It takes all those cliched scenes we’ve seen in so many other movies and goes in wild directions with them. However, the focus remains squarely placed on our main guy, MacGruber.
Petty, childish, inept, and above all, insanely funny, MacGruber is the perfect anti-hero playing the hero. Rare are the movies that managed to portray this sort of character without coming off as pretentious or disjointed. He’s at the same time lovable and disgusting. But at least you can relate to him. The movie MacGruber was born out of an SNL skit although you wouldn’t guess that in a million years by watching the movie. What we usually end up with is a collection of loosely related scenes which was not the case here. We had not only an engaging main plot but also well-developed characters.
Movies like this are meant to entertain you and should be not taken seriously. Sure, I can see how some of you might find the whole thing a bit crass but so were the eighties. And so is life in general, so let’s have some fun with it at least. And MacGruber offers loads of fun. You’ve got shootouts, explosions, chase scenes, and obligatory throat-ripping. What, you’ve never heard of throat-ripping, well, you’re about to as MacGruber (first name unknown) is an expert.
We find MacGruber, a former Green Beret, Army Ranger, and Navy SEAL meditating in Ecuador. After Dieter Von Cunth killed his wife, he decided to spend the rest of his days away from the action. However, the action comes to him as Colonel Faith informs him that Cunth now has a nuclear warhead that he plans on using. It’s time to bring MacGruber out of retirement and let him assemble his team of badass to kick Cunth’s ass.
I’ve watched this movie at least a dozen times and I loved it each and every time. There’s one scene in particular that cracks me up every time and that’s the one when Ryan Phillippe as Piper finds MacGruber’s notebook. And in the notebook some of his plans and ideas. The scene just keeps escalating and escalating until you’re rolling on the floor laughing. And that actually happened to me the first time I watched this underrated masterpiece. I fell on the floor laughing and gasping for air. Pure comedy gold I tell you!
As soon as you see Will Forte in his eighties clothes and that fucking stereo he keeps hailing around, you start to chuckle. But his character is what turns this chuckle into a burst of full-blown laughter. To see this jealous manchild make love, argue, or do basically anything is a sight for sore eyes in this relatively familiar genre. We all know what’s going to happen in these movies even before they start. Here, you cannot predict anything. And just in case you were wondering, no, you don’t have to know anything about MacGyver or any other particular movie. If you’ve seen Die Hard, you’re good to go.
If you’re looking for similar movies, I can only recommend two huge hits Tropic Thunder and The Other Guys. I have yet to find a movie that’s like MacGruber. However, don’t worry because this movie was turned into a television series! It’s not as good as the movie but at least all the original cast members are there. Apart from Powers Boothe, who sadly passed away in 2017.
Director: Jorma Taccone
Writers: Will Forte, John Solomon, Jorma Taccone
Cast: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Ryan Phillippe, Powers Boothe, Timothy V. Murphy
Fun Facts: Will Forte owns the Mazda Miata that MacGruber drives in the film.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470023/
