DVD review: MacGruber

Special Forces operative MacGruber fights evil in various ineffective ways.

MacGruber started as a sketch on Saturday Night Live, it was a parody of MacGyver, the famous TV series from the 80s where the titular character solves every situation by building incredibly complicated mechanism with what amount to just spare junk.

I never saw the original sketch but in movie form this really doesn’t work. First I think there should be a statute of limitation regarding parodies. I grew up in the 80s so I actually saw MacGyver and the rest of the stuff that they are referring to but honestly these things only work when the parodied object is fresh in the mind of the viewer. It should be an immediate recognition followed by a quick laugh not befuddlement followed by vague recollection of the original stuff. There is a reason nobody parodies Nixon any more.

The titular character is unsympathetic and simply not funny, as most of the supporting cast. Only Val Kilmer is half decent and has a lot of fun turning up the stereotypical action movie bad guy all the way to 11.

The story never finds his footing, you’ll smile a couple of times but really there is not enough in this MacGruber guy to sustain a whole movie.