MacGruber is a skilled tactician, a brilliant strategerist and probably the funniest man alive (theatrically speaking). His main negotiating tool is the following: "I will suck your dick…you can fuck me…or I can fuck you?" MacGruber (the film) is an American classic. Not since 1996 with the arrival of Dumb and Dumber has a film made me laugh as loudly or as vociferously as this gem from writer/actor Will Forte. MacGruber belongs in the conversation with comedy smash hits such as Anchorman, DodgeBall, Tropic Thunder, and Not Another Teen Movie. This is good company people.
MacGruber has been living in relative seclusion for over ten years since the untimely death of his bride to be Casey (Maya Rudolph). His arch-nemesis Dieter Von Cunth (the "h" is silent) had her detonated on the alter (Cunth is played by Val Kilmer). Talk about having a bomb in your pants and then having it go off at the wrong time! Apparently she was originally romantically involved with Cunth until she became pregnant with his baby and then started sleeping with MacGruber. Mac convinced her to abort the fetus and be his lover instead. Vowing a life of isolation and silence after the tragedy at the altar, only Mac’s commanding officer’s plea (Powers Booth as Colonel Faith) for help in stopping Von Cunth could reawaken his desire to protect the United States of America.
The character MacGruber is a spoof on Richard Dean Andersen’s MacGyver. If you did not know that then please let me know what planet you have been living on, I would love to visit, and is it warm this time of year? MacGyver’s niche had been fighting crime by using his mechanical ingenuity and ability to turn virtually anything into a homemade bomb. MacGruber can do this albeit with little success (most of his bombs fizzle out and extinguish when it counts). Instead, he prefers a throat ripper and is quite proficient with ripping off a gobble or two. Watch out elderly men, stay away from the sequel!
When he is lured out of meditation to once again face Cunth and avenge his fiancé’s murder, MacGruber assembles the "dream team" (not Michael Keaton and the mentally challenged gang of psychiatric patients). This dream team consists of half of the WWE: Chris Jericho, the Big Show (who is the largest gay man in history for film purposes), the Great Khali, Marc Henry and Kane. This fighting force looks unstoppable, unflappable and unbeatable…until MacGruber’s only working explosive ever accidentally blows them up before they ever see an ounce of action. Whoops! Not to worry though, their ghosts return for a cameo later in the film.
This leaves MacGruber stranded and without a team. Finally, out of love and pity the lovely singer Vicki St. Elmo (Kristin Wiig) rescues her old love and makes the squad a threesome (Ryan Philippe is the action man). Philippe is Lt. Dixon Piper. Lt. Piper could not be more different from MacGruber. He is manly, devoted to protocol, an expert with firearms, and is a master of espionage. Meanwhile MacGruber is flashy, obvious, oblivious to reality and is the character to most resemble Austin Powers since the Love Guru himself. Together with Piper and St. Elmo, MacGruber is charged with confirming Cunth is the mastermind behind a stolen nuclear warhead and if so he must bring the villain to justice before destruction is wrought on any target.
When reintroduced to Cunth in person MacGruber retaliates by taking an "upper decker". This is a unique defecatory process by which the expeller (of feces) releases the waste in the upper portion of the toilet causing a stench and severe overflowing (kind of like Kirstie Alley at a buffet table). Rather than remain anonymous and hide his presence from Cunth, MacGruber brazenly blows his cover and puts the lives of his teammates in jeopardy. This includes dressing Vicki to look like him to distract the killers. Unfortunately her disguises are rather obvious and this puts her life at considerable risk. He even manages to use Lt. Dixon as a human shield. Fortunately the Lt. is wearing a bullet proof vest. When he asks our witless hero how he knew about the vest, MacGruber blurts out "you were wearing a vest?" In another scene he distracts assassins wielding automatic weapons by placing a celery stick in his ass and prancing around naked (the thick end must face outward). He then eats the celery without washing it. It is all about fresh vegetables people!
My favorite scene (there are countless uproarious moments) shows the sex between MacGruber and Vicki. She is a virgin but only he is orgasming the entire time while yelling out "I am going to burst inside you" and other classic sick lines. The fascinating thing is Val Kilmer, Kristin Wiig, and even Ryan Philippe understand perfectly when to be serious and when to join in on the fun. Their participation is essential to MacGruber being funny. They are well-directed and know just when to put out and when to get out.
Honestly, MacGruber is the funniest movie I have seen in probably two years. Good comedy is hard to find. Laughter is usually unsustainable for large periods of time. Will Forte’s vision of what the imbecilic version of MacGyver can be has been realized and so have many of our wildest dreams of comedy. Forte is a lot like Mike Myers and Will Ferrell but he shows us his own uniquely disturbed brand of humor. I love filthy jokes and embarrassing humor and now as a consequence I like Forte. As the lead writer and actor of MacGruber he deserves high praise and a huge day at the Box Office. Only time will tell, but expect word to spread that MacGruber is the real deal happy meal.
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