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MacGruber a Mixed Bag

Low-ball comedy splits the critics

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted May 21, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

(Newser) – The latest big-screen foray by Saturday Night Live cast members has split critics, with some loving and others despising MacGruber's raunchy satire:

  • SNL movies tend to suck, “but MacGruber breaks the jinx,” writes Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. It sends up '80s action flicks “with a sense of style and unabashed affection.” Star Will Forte “is having a ball, and the feeling is contagious.”
  • Kyle Smith isn't catching it. You can tell it came from TV, he writes in the New York Post: “ It features the pacing of C-SPAN, the production values of the public-access channel, the writing acumen of Home Shopping Network.”

  • The movie is a lot like the SNL skit, says Rob Salem of the Toronto Star: “It, too, is a one-note joke, and it too it inevitably explodes in your face.” Your enjoyment “pretty much depends on how you feel about genital humor.”
  • Andrew Schenker of Slant loved those gags. “MacGruber 's at its best when it's most vulgar,” he writes, “when its foul-mouthed and essentially insane hero is free to indulge in his signature bits of raunchy whimsy.”

In this film publicity image released by Rogue Pictures/Universal Pictures, Will Forte, left, and Kristen Wiig are shown in a scene from MacGruber.
In this film publicity image released by Rogue Pictures/Universal Pictures, Will Forte, left, and Kristen Wiig are shown in a scene from "MacGruber."   (AP Photo/Rogue Pictures/Universal Pictures, Greg Peters)
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The trailer for "Macgruber."   (Yardi007)

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
Nxxxx
May 21, 2010 10:16 PM CDT
I remember a Python sketch where 'The Bishop' couldn't make it in time to save anyone.
Richard Cozby
May 21, 2010 8:29 PM CDT
The fact that movie reviewers on the whole said more than, "Bah! This movie is utter garbage, and in noway worth thy money! Now please excuse me while I go watch a movie with a very limited release!" means that this movie is probably ok.
DanielGrak
May 21, 2010 8:13 PM CDT
"We haven't had an SNL movie in a while. Any sketches worth putting on film?"

"Uhh... oh, boy... well, there's the one where the retard girl makes the teacher more and more exasperated by repeating her catchphrase"

"Sounds great! But I'm looking for ACTION!"

"Oh jeez... well, in MacGruber the title character is defusing a bomb when the other characters embarrass or distract him and the bomb goes off after all. It's about 30 seconds long."

"WE WILL MAKE IT"
 

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