As the Black Student Union was leaving the Alumni Lounge, having just finished their first meeting, other students entered, taking chairs that barely had a moments rest.
It was a hot and humid Wednesday night and, although the event-filled Welcome Week had ended, SCOPE was already hard at work providing more events for the UNH community. For September 1, that event was a presentation of the action-comedy movie MacGruber.
MacGruber was originally a reoccurring sketch from Saturday Night Live, which in turn was based off of legendary television series MacGyver. The character of MacGyver, which aired from 1985 to 1992, was a brilliant secret agent who used his intelligence and creativity to invent any type of device or gadget out of common products and come up with ingenious ways to escape from any situation. MacGruber, however, is a little different.
The character of MacGruber, portrayed by actor, comedian, and SNL writer Will Forte, is an insane (bordering on sociopathic) and ruthless parody of MacGyver and action heroes in general. Following a planning style that he describes as “making things up as I go along,” MacGruber decides to throw common sense out the window and follow his gut, no matter how ridiculous the results are. Not only does MacGruber get the job done, but his relentlessly hilarious character and over-the-top personality, akin to Ace Ventura, definitely make him the star of the film.
Despite that, MacGruber has an effective supporting cast as well. Val Kilmer plays the aptly-named villain of the film, Dieter von Cunth, who has earned MacGruber’s eternal hatred for the murder of his wife ten years prior to the start of the movie. That, along with the fact that von Cunth stole a nuclear missile with less-than-pure intentions on how to use it, gives MacGruber both personal and professional reasons to come out of retirement to stop him.
MacGruber is aided in his quest by young military officer Dixon Piper (played by Ryan Phillippe) and female lead Vicky St. Elmo (played by Kristen Wiig). Rounding out the cast is Powers Boothe, as Col. Jim Faith, and Maya Rudolph, as MacGruber’s deceased wife, Casey.
What begins as a seemingly standard action film (despite many of the genre’s clichés being exaggerated to hilarious effect early on) becomes more and more ridiculous as time passes on, establishing itself as a unique film in its own right. Of particular note are MacGruber’s pathological obsession with getting revenge on a stranger for insulting his Miata, a distraction technique that involves placing celery where it clearly doesn’t belong, a consummation scene with a ghost, and martial art techniques that look like they belong in Mortal Kombat (especially MacGruber’s signature “throat-rip” attack).
Those looking for a decent action movie will not be disappointed. However, the main appeal of MacGruber is its ruthless parody of the action movie genre. Anyone looking to laugh would be wise to see this film.
