Mar 11 2010
5 Reasons Why The MacGruber Movie Will Be Very Funny
Now look - I’m well aware that most movies that are based on Saturday Night Live sketches don’t turn out so great. And really, that may be putting it lightly. When I had first read about a MacGruber movie, I naturally rolled my eyes and thought it was a dumb idea. Sure, the sketch itself can be funny from time to time, but stretched out to an hour and a half? Yikes.
But then I saw the trailer, and it was actually pretty funny. That got me reading more about the production of the film, who’s in it, who wrote it, and so on. After everything I’ve seen and read, I’m pretty convinced that - believe it or not - MacGruber is going to be a very funny movie. Here are five reasons why:
1. It’s directed and co-written by Jorma Taccone.
I’m guessing most people don’t know who Jorma Taccone is, since Andy Samberg is the prominent member of Lonely Island. But the very fact that Jorma has been collaborating with Samberg for some of the funniest moments on Saturday Night Live these past few years - the incredible Digital Shorts - means that the kid knows what’s funny. Jorma also co-wrote Hot Rod, one of the funniest movies of the past decade.
If you didn’t like Hot Rod, then maybe MacGruber won’t be for you, but if you’re a fan of Samberg and his style of humor, this movie is going to be a real gem. Like Hot Rod, MacGruber won’t appeal to the masses by trying to broaden its humor. Instead, it’ll be what Taccone and his co-writers find funny, and it’s that honest type of comedy writing that, in my opinion, makes for the funniest movies.
2. Val Kilmer plays the main villain.
Yes, that’s right - Val Kilmer is the movie’s main villain. Kilmer can definitely pull off comedy, as evidenced by his earlier roles in movies like Real Genius and Top Secret, and even his cameo on the normally-atrocious Entourage was pretty funny. Kilmer’s days as an A-lister are long gone, but the fact that someone of his credentials is attached to the movie as one of the main characters indicates that the script itself must have been very funny.
And his character’s name? Dieter Von Cunth. Wow.
3. The rest of the cast is solid.
In addition to Kristen Wiig, Will Forte (duh), and the criminally underrated Bill Hader of SNL fame, MacGruber will feature Powers Boothe, a ton of wrestlers, and even Derek Mears, the guy who played Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th reboot. Ryan Phillipe also adds some credibility - of sorts - to the cast. For me, the inclusion of Wiig and Hader is what’s most attractive, especially since Bill Hader absolutely killed it the last time he teamed up with Taccone in Hot Rod. In case you couldn’t tell, I really, really like Hot Rod.
4. There’s an upper-decker joke!
If you don’t know what an upper-decker is, you can find out simply by watching the trailer. It’s about time a movie capitalized on the immature hilarity that is the upper-decker, as this is a phenomenon that has been going on for years. If this is the type of potty humor that’s going to be tossed around in MacGruber, I’m all in, and it’s a good sign that the writers are blazing trails by the inclusion of the upper-decker. Long overdue.
Which brings me to…
5. It’s going to be rated R.
Because we all know it’s damn near impossible for a PG-13 movie to be that funny. The fact that MacGruber is rated R indicates that there won’t be any “safe,” generic jokes; the writers are going to be allowed to do pretty much whatever they want with the characters. Sex, drugs, cursing, and violence are all fair game, and their inclusion means that nothing will be off-limits - which in turn makes the movie’s jokes less predictable.
I’ll definitely be watching this movie when it comes out, and I’m not letting the fact that it’s based on an SNL bit get me down.
Video of the Week
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- Eight of the Funniest Jorma Taccone Videos
- Five Reasons Why Hot Rod is One of the Funniest Movies In the Last 3 Years
- Unreal Movie Review: MacGruber
- They’re Making an SNL ‘MacGruber’ Movie? With Val Kilmer?
- 5 Comedy Sequels That Could Work
totally agree
THE PICTURE WITH FORTE IN FRONT OF HIS MIATA IS REASON ENOUGH TO WATCH THIS MOVIE- EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST GRAVY
Val Kilmer was also hilarious in the criminally underrated kiss kiss bang bang
I was thinking the same thing Sam.
The only part that annoyed me about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was
*SPOILER*
when his finger got cut off in the door. What was the deal with that? How can that possibly happen? Was the door lined with razor blades? Overall, a very entertaining and fun film to watch…
i want to see this when it comes out McGrubber is one of my favourite schetches on SNL
I still have some pretty big doubts. Most of the SNL movies don’t work very well, because one-note jokes don’t work for a full movie. The fact that they are making it rated R is the best news about it if you ask me. That doesn’t mean it will be good, but at least they can go more overboard with jokes.
It’s going to suck. MacGruber is only funny in small doses. That’s why it runs for about 90-ish seconds. But 90 minutes?! Blergh.
MacGruber, doing his SNL bit is only good for about 90seconds.
However, get away from that 1 bit joke of “how much time is left”+BOOM, and show how he interacts in other real life situations, plus Wiig. GOLD JERRY…. GOLD!
this is going to be AMAZING! and i loved Hot Rod, too… i think Jorma is hilarious and should act in more movies/digital shorts.
Thanks for giving it a chance! It is pretty fucking funny, if I do say so myself. Which I do. I’m also pretty into Hot Rod. - jorm
Sorry but that trailer was not funny at all. Hope you just couldn’t include the funny parts cause they are rated R.
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The MPAA is VERY strict on what you can show in trailers and TV spots. The movie is pretty filthy and we can’t show like 90% of what’s in it. I’m just glad we didn’t get an NC-17 for the sex parts. If you like our shit, you’ll like MacGruber. If you don’t, you won’t! -
[…] from time to time, but stretched out to an hour and a half? Yikes. But upon more thought, here are 5 reasons it will be funny. Similar Posts:None Found You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. […]
I think one thing about the MacGruber sketches on SNL that people might miss is that they’re always in series during the episode. They all progress and they usually show MacGruber slowly deteriorating with each bit. It’s certainly not the same “time is running o…BOOM” type joke each time, though in the beginning that’s usually what gets the laughs. But rather they use that as a mechanism to get you to appreciate the other types of comedic value in the sketch. By the third MacGruber sketch during an SNL episode, you already know that time is going to run out and they’re all going to blow the hell up, but what is truly funny at that point is how sad and ridiculous MacGruber is by then.
[…] today. He’s co-written and directed the upcoming MacGruber movie - which is one reason why I think it’ll be great, he’s part of the hilarious comedy group Lonely Island, and his role in Hot Rod is absolutely […]
[…] all honesty, I had been pretty excited about the MacGruber movie for quite some time. I don’t think the SNL sketch on which it is based is unbelievably […]