MacGruber (2021)

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Expand view Topic review: MacGruber (2021)

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by pinback » Mon Dec 27, 2021 1:07 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:23 am show that was forgetting it was a comedy like Schitt's Creek did.
oh no he di'int

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by Flack » Mon Dec 27, 2021 12:38 pm

It's easy to forget that Karl was both a pathological liar and a cannibal.



Mike's (Phil's brother) "death" was one of the most emotional scenes of the entire series, as was the scene when we discovered he didn't die.

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by Ice Cream Jonsey » Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:23 am

Ok, this is now the Last Man on Earth thread.

I get that sometimes shows don't do a good job leveraging their talent. The best example of this is something that didn't actually happen: there is a story of Mitch Hedberg getting a show and they were going to make him a tennis instructor. The man hated sports and it's not that nothing could ever be done with the premise, it was just stupid as fuck.

I had to individually download episodes of The Last Man on Earth and it eventually got to be too much of a pain in the ass but there was very little WILL FORTE in it when I stopped getting them. The last episode I remember was that Phil/Tandy accidentally left the original gal who had the CPAP (which was really funny) and tried to find her and did which was very touching. I hope that Jason Sudeikis eventually returned to earth and as the brother of Phil and usually not a doormat character, I hope he got the rest of them to leave him alone. I HOPE. I also hunger. I dunno.

Aside from the awful name for the show, which I can get past because who cares, it started to seem like a show that was forgetting it was a comedy like Schitt's Creek did.

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by Flack » Mon Dec 27, 2021 9:23 am

pinback wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 9:02 am
Flack wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:56 am So you watched... one episode?
Well, there was a chick first, right? The next MAN didn't show up for a while. Am I remembering that right?
You're right. There was the goofy chick, then the hot (later crazy) chick, and then finally... TODD.

I get that that series couldn't have lasted long with Phil as the only character, but that first episode really made me daydream about what I would do if I were the only person on the planet. I would love that window where abandoned food was still good and cars were still running and struggle when it came time to plant a garden or something.

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by pinback » Mon Dec 27, 2021 9:02 am

Flack wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:56 am So you watched... one episode?
Well, there was a chick first, right? The next MAN didn't show up for a while. Am I remembering that right?

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by Casual Observer » Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:59 am

Shhhsh, Ben has the best opinion about everything.

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by Flack » Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:56 am

So you watched... one episode?

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by pinback » Mon Dec 27, 2021 7:22 am

We watched Last Man on Earth until he wasn't, and then it lost a step -- and two viewers ouch

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by Flack » Mon Dec 27, 2021 6:19 am

There's only one scene in the new series I can recall that even hints at MacGruber's MacGyver roots (and even that scene is just an excuse for an extended sex joke). More so than ever before, MacGruber is more John McCain than Angus MacGyver.

There's a scene where MacGruber prepares for battle by strapping on 20 rifles, guns, and straps of bullets and then tries to get into his MIata. Of course the door won't close with all that gear on, so he tries to shut it a second time. A normal skit would stop there, but then he tries it a third time. Then a fourth. Then a fifth and a sixth. That's a Will Forte joke.

The Last Man on Earth lost its way a bit toward the end and never got the ending it deserved (now that's something I would like to see on Peacock+ -- a final send off for that show), but if you like Forte's humor and haven't watched it, it's a must see.

Re: MacGruber (2021)

by Ice Cream Jonsey » Mon Dec 27, 2021 5:55 am

I think Will Forte has the highest highs of any SNL cast member I've ever seen. There is a spelling bee skit, a Halloween one with the Mad Men guy, the Fartface one, and others I can't think of at 5:50AM. He was on the show during a stretch where I wasn't paying attention, so it's been great watching his stuff at night when I put SNL on YouTube before calling it a night.

I watched the MacGruber movie this weekend and the first episode of the show two nights ago and it is remarkable in just how different a direction they went from the MacGyver roots - the movie and show are send-offs of action movies much more than what I remember of MacGyver. I liked the first episode a lot more than I thought I would, so I'm in, but it's definitely bizarre. Will Forte is probably still the guy I want to be when I grow up.

MacGruber (2021)

by Flack » Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:58 pm



Will Forte's MacGruber began life as a Saturday Night Live parody of MacGuyver in which MacGruber would, in skit after skit, attempt to diffuse bombs by using MacGuyver-esque methods only to spectacularly fail. Somehow, the star of those paper thin sketches earned his own movie in 2010, which holds the distinction of being the lowest earning Saturday Night Live film of all time. Think about that for a moment. 2010's MacGruber earned less than Night at the Roxbury. It earned less than Coneheads. Less than It's Pat.

Don't get me wrong; certain parts of (the hard R-rated) MacGruber were comedic genius. Will Forte is one of the funniest writers on the planet. He's also one of the most inconsistent. There were two or three jokes in the original film that literally made me almost pee my pants. ("Call 911! Call 911!") Other times, he'll latch onto something that's not funny and repeat it until the unfunnyness becomes funny.

How a quirky cult-classic but box office failure made its return as an eight part series on Peacock+ is beyond me. This time around, MacGruber receives a pardon from federal prison when an international terrorist demands MacGruber in tade for the President's kidnapped daughter. Before long, MacGruber has inadvertently delivered a weapon of mass destruction to the terrorists, and yet remains convinced he is the only man who can retrieve it. Rejoining Forte's MacGruber is Kristin Wiig as MacGruber's now ex-wife, Vicki St. Elmo, and his military partner Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe). Joining the cast this time around are Laurence Fishburne as Barrett Fasoose, Sam Elliott as MacGruber's father Perry, and Billy Zane as the evil Enos Queeth.

What was funny enough for three-minute skits and hit or miss in a 90-minute film is too thin for 8 30-minute episodes. 2021's MacGruber could have easily been crunched down into a two-hour film; at four hours, there's just not enough material here to fill the time. One entire episode revolves around MacGruber escaping from a room, a scene that could have been cut down to five minutes. A couple of the episodes feel like stretched filler, and the closer you get toward the end, the more it seems they've run out of material.

Like the film, the new series is R-rated. MacGruber is a master of ripping open throats and removing noses with his bare hands. In another scene, he begs Fishburne's Fasoose to let him rejoin the military mission by offering him a hand job repeatedly. MacGruber wears a locket containing stands of his wife's pubic hair. Some of it's funny and some of it's beyond over the top.

If you were a fan of the movie, there are enough jokes here (both throwbacks and new material) to make the series worth watching. If you've seen the skits and/or the movie and can't imagine how this got made, spare yourself the four hours.

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