MacGruber (film)

MacGruber
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jorma Taccone
Written by	Jorma Taccone Will Forte John Solomon
Produced by	Lorne Michaels John Goldwyn Ryan Kavanaugh Seth Meyers Akiva Schaffer
Starring	Will Forte Kristen Wiig Ryan Phillippe Val Kilmer Maya Rudolph
Cinematography	Brandon Trost
Edited by	Jamie Gross
Music by	Matthew Compton
Production company	Relativity Media
Distributed by	Rogue Pictures
Release date	May 21, 2010 (2010-05-21)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$9,259,314

MacGruber is a 2010 American action comedy film based on the Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name. The character of MacGruber is a parody of MacGyver, the 1980s spy who could escape any situation using whatever was lying around. The film stars Will Forte in the title role, Kristen Wiig as his love interest/partner, Vicki St. Elmo, Ryan Phillippe as Dixon Piper, a young lieutenant who becomes part of MacGruber's team, Val Kilmer as the aptly named villain, Dieter von Cunth, and Maya Rudolph as the flashbacks and ghost of MacGruber's dead wife, Casey.

The film was released on May 21, 2010, after being pushed from its original April 23 date.

Plot

The film begins in eastern Siberia Dzhugdzhur Mountains with Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), the villain, and his men taking control of the X-5 missile, which contains a nuclear warhead. The scene then shifts to an Ecuadorian monastery, where Col. Jim Faith (Powers Boothe) and Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) have come to find MacGruber. The two military men find MacGruber (Will Forte) meditating in a chapel, and try to convince him to return to the United States. MacGruber refuses, even when he learns that the purpose of his return would be to go after his nemesis, Cunth. However, later that night, MacGruber explodes into a fit of rage after a flashback where Cunth killed his would-be wife Casey (Maya Rudolph) at their wedding, and decides to take Faith up on his offer.

MacGruber goes to the Pentagon, and, eventually, finds Col. Faith. After a heated and violent conversation with Faith and Piper, MacGruber decides he will form his own team to pursue Cunth, and will not tolerate Piper on his team. MacGruber visits all his potential team members and is successful in recruiting all but Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig), his long time friend. MacGruber and his team meet Faith and Piper on a tarmac. Upon being questioned where his team is, MacGruber responds that they are in the van (seen in the background) along with his homemade C-4 explosives. The van promptly explodes, killing the whole team.

The scene shifts to Faith's office; MacGruber is distraught over the loss of the team and his removal from the Cunth case. In a one on one conversation with Piper, MacGruber repeatedly offers to perform sexual acts on, or with, him if he will join his team. Vicki also arrives, completing MacGruber's team. The group then travels to Cunth's nightclub in Las Vegas. MacGruber's Miata is insulted by a man driving a car with license plate KFBR392, which he vigorously tries to remember. MacGruber then enters the nightclub and announces who he is and his intentions, as well as where he can be found the next day. The team then tries to set up a sting operation, with Vicki pretending to be MacGruber. However, the van MacGruber and Piper are sitting in is attacked by Haas Bender, one of Cunth's henchmen. Fortunately, MacGruber manages to hit the gas pedal of the truck, crushing Bender.

The team then breaks into a warehouse to stop von Cunth from getting the passcodes to operate the rocket. MacGruber distracts the guards by walking around naked with a piece of celery clenched between his buttocks. Piper manages to kill most of the men inside, but is unable to stop the transfer of the pass codes. MacGruber and the team then go to a charity event Cunth is holding. MacGruber breaks into a poker game between Cunth and an influential senator. MacGruber tells the senator Cunth is bluffing, which winds up being a very bad move, leading Cunth to win the game. After a heated conversation, MacGruber is thrown out by Cunth's guards. The guards also break Macgruber's beloved stereo, which he eventually does a poor job repairing with duct tape.

After the fiasco, MacGruber returns to the Pentagon where he is told he is a liability. The scene then shifts to MacGruber and Piper drinking and hanging out. However, the two men are suddenly attacked. MacGruber uses Piper as a human shield to survive, and Vicki and MacGruber escape in the Miata. Piper survives due to the fact that he was wearing a bullet proof vest, but is disgusted that MacGruber used him as protection, and leaves him. Vicki and MacGruber then return to Vicki's house where the two have sex. MacGruber then goes to his wife's grave in shame, but he sees her ghost, who gives her blessing to allow MacGruber to pursue Vicki. They have sex immediately afterwards.

Upon returning to Vicki's house (and destroying the car with the license plate KFBR392), MacGruber discovers that Vicki has been kidnapped, and realizes what Cunth's plan is: to bomb the State of the Union address. Cunth calls MacGruber to gloat, but MacGruber is able to trace the call. MacGruber then meets up with Piper to save Vicki. The two men make their way into Cunth's compound, in large part due to MacGruber's propensity for ripping throats. The two are captured and are taken to where Vicki and the missile are located. The group manages to overpower Cunth and his men and handcuff Cunth to a handrail. MacGruber then prevents the missile launch and escapes with his team from the compound just before the missile explodes.

The scene then shifts to MacGruber and Vicki's wedding. Out of the corner of his eye, MacGruber spies a disfigured Cunth (who was believed to have died in the explosion) with an RPG. MacGruber saves Vicki, and then throws Cunth off a cliff behind the altar, shooting him with a machine gun as he falls, and finally urinating on his corpse at the foot of the cliff.

Cast

• Will Forte as MacGruber
• Kristen Wiig as Vicki St. Elmo
• Ryan Phillippe as Lt. Dixon Piper
• Val Kilmer as Dieter Von Cunth
• Maya Rudolph as Casey Sullivan
• Powers Boothe as Col. Jim Faith
• Chris Jericho as Frank Korver
• M.V.P. as Vernon Freedom
• The Great Khali as Tug Phelps
• The Big Show as Brick Hughes
• Mark Henry as Tut Beemer
• Kane as Tanker Lutz
• Amar'e Stoudemire as Himself
• Derek Mears as Large Henchman

Production

Kristen Wiig reprises her role as MacGruber's assistant, Vicki St. Elmo.

On the June 1, 2009 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Will Forte announced that MacGruber had been greenlit and production was to begin on August 9th, with Fallon adding (in the July 29th episode) that it would be filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cameos by WWE Superstars Chris Jericho, The Big Show, Mark Henry, Kane, M.V.P. and The Great Khali, and actor Derek Mears, were later confirmed.

Although the film had a release date of May 21, 2010, the film was originally scheduled for an April 23 release.

Legal disputes

Prior to the film's release, MacGruber stirred controversy with Lee David Zlotoff, creator of the TV series MacGyver, whose contract stipulates he retains the right to a film version of the TV series. His lawyer has sent several cease-and-desist letters and is currently meeting with litigators to determine a course of action. So far no suit has been brought.

Marketing

Pictures were leaked on the Internet on January 6, 2010. A two-minute red band trailer was released on January 19, 2010, and the next day, January 20, a green band trailer was released.

On April 19, 2010, Forte, Wiig, and Phillippe hosted WWE Raw from the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey in character to promote the film. Forte was also in a handicap match with his "big brother" Khaluber against Vladimir Kozlov, which ended up in Forte winning after Khaluber and Kozlov were counted out.

Ryan Phillippe guest starred on Saturday Night Live on April 17, 2010, and made reference to the movie's filming in his opening monologue.

Reception

Critical response

The film has received mixed reviews.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 47% of all critics have given the film a positive review based on 123 reviews, with an average score of 5.1/10; "top critics," however, scores MacGruber 29% positive, based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 4.4/10. Critics' consensus concludes the movie "too often mistakes shock value for real humor, but MacGruber is better than many SNL films -- and better than it probably should be."

Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 43/100 based on 21 reviews from mainstream critics.

Chris Tilly of IGN UK gave the episode 3 out of 5 stars saying "When the film is funny, it's very funny, however.If MacGruber hits as big as he deserves to, we could be seeing a lot more of his mullet on the big-screen in the future."

Jack Giroux of The Film Stage said "It’s rather saddening that MacGruber isn’t being done justice in all the TV spots and trailers. This is a film that could easily slip through the cracks during the summer season and it most likely will. Fortunately, it’s good enough that it will have a long life on video. The audience for this may not the widest, but it’s one that will perpetuate it to cult status as an endlessly quotable comedy that gets funnier with each viewing."

Jon Peters of KillerFilm gave 3 out of 5 stars saying "It’s consistently funny and it didn’t need gray tape to do it. It’s funny in the old Airplane! humor, mixed with a little Mel Brooks, type of way; a rare treat, really." He also added "MacGruber fits nicely somewhere in between Braddock: Missing in Action III and A Man Called Sarge. But none of this would work, if it wasn’t for Will Forte’s brilliant blend of witless charm and dumb ass heroics."

Other critics were not nearly as kind, such as Kyle Smith of the New York Post, who called the film "a throbbing flameball of unfunny."

Box office

The film grossed $1.5 million on its opening night, and about $4 million for its opening weekend. The film earned a total of $8,460,995 by the end of its third weekend, still short of the $10 million production cost. In July 2010 Parade Magazine listed the film #2 on its list of "Biggest Box Office Flops of 2010 (So Far)."

Theaters typically must exhibit a new release for two weeks before considering dropping it. MacGruber realized the fourth biggest third week drop in cinema history, shrinking 93% from 2546 to 177 theaters.

External links

• Official website
• MacGruber at IMDb
• MacGruber at AllMovie
• MacGruber at Box Office Mojo
• MacGruber at Rotten Tomatoes
• MacGruber at Metacritic