DOWN (Dining Out With Nerds) report: MacGruber

Last week the AMC was only showing six movies (some that we had seen before, and some that they would have to pay us to watch), so the choices were going home and watching The Big Bang Theory or seeing MacGruber. Between the sad state of the MacGruber skits on SNL, the difficulty of turning even an excellent skit into a full-length movie, and the uninspiring previews, we decided to see MacGruber but were mentally prepared to write off the $10.50 for this movie.

Our new theory is that the previews are deliberately bad so that the actual movies will be a pleasant surprise. MacGruber was at least amusing throughout and pretty funny at points. Will Forte was always intense as MacGruber (no first name), the bumbling ex-Green Beret, Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and recipient of 14 Purple Hearts who can’t stand guns. Kristen Wiig is Vicki St. Elmo, his hapless ex-co-agent who puts her awesomely insipid singing career on hold to help MacGruber again. Val Kilmer gets to do a William Shatner role as larger-than-life bad guy and straight man Dieter Von Cunth (he does it just slightly larger-than-life, a deadly but comparatively realistic villain). Yes, they beat that joke to death. And Powers Boothe, who has played many military officers, plays Colonel Faith, which was funny just by itself.

MacGruber, of course, is a parody of MacGyver. He uses a variety of gadgets, mostly crude lash-ups, and mostly with disastrous results. His home-made C4, for example, puts a serious crimp in his own plans. Well, “crimp” is the wrong word. A serious KABOOM is more accurate. But this is also a Rambo parody, with bad guys, action scenes, the Pentagon, and the kitchen sink thrown in. Unlike either Rambo or MacGyver, this has a sex scene. I think. There’s a lot of grossness in this movie, and that scene is part of it. The movie has received very mixed reviews. One reviewer compared it to Howard the Duck or Leonard: Part 6. Consider yourself warned.

This is a movie with no redeeming social value at all, except making people laugh. “Contrary to what one would expect, use the thick end.” You may never eat celery again.