Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Ex-special operative MacGruber is called back into action to take down his archenemy, Dieter Von Cunth, who's in possession of a nuclear warhead and bent on destroying Washington, DC.
MacGruber is a feature-length expansion of the SNL sketch that commits fully to its absurdist, vulgar parody of 80s action movies. Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and Ryan Phillippe deliver committed performances that elevate the juvenile material, and Val Kilmer makes a memorably hammy villain. The film earns points for its genuine audacity in going further with the crude humor than expected, but the plot is paper-thin by design and the cinematography is purely functional. The ending fizzles rather than sticks the landing, and as a whole the film remains a one-joke premise stretched thin despite its cult appeal.