DVD Review: 'MacGruber'
TV shows. More TV shows. Then five more TV shows.
That is, what are you finding on DVD this time of year.
The reason? JumpStart To the new fall television season (beginning 20 September), the dealers are releasing editions of their series on DVD. Priming the pump to speak, so.
This week you will find "Brothers & Sisters," "Flash Forward," "House," "The Middle", "Sons of Anarchy" and "Vampire Diaries".
Next week, look for "Chuck," "Criminal Minds," "The Guardian" and "The Office".
If you're a big fan of Will Forte, you might be disappointed to learn he is not likely to return to "Saturday Night Live."
But the good news? He is in "MacGruber available," a feature-length look at a sketch-based character.
In more bursts, MacGruber (Forte) is not a dimmer MacGyver. He is Rambo without the accuracy, in "The Fall Guy" without the charisma, the "A-Team" without the social skills.
Tired of villains to fight, he fakes his own death, hidden in a monastery and attempted to lead an ascetic life. Then a friend (and fellow warriors come) and he calls back into the game determined to stop old rival Dieter von Cunth (Val Kilmer) to launch a nuclear missile in the United States' direction.
A failed attempt to work, gather a crack team of weapons MacGruber forces with Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig), his late wife's best friend. After some initial head butt, they find their groove and go hunting. It is a wild journey - one characterized by the eyebrow-raising techniques and a healthy use of four letter words and actions.
Director Jorma Taccone has also studied '80s television. He uses its resounding themes, cheap sets and costumes retro. He makes Phillippe funny, too, and one almost gets power from Kilmer. Still cherish the illusion that he's the next Marlon Brando, Kilmer is not quite find the vibe he needs to make other Dr. Evil.
Powers Boothe is better to send the no-nonsense military leader, he has played many times over. Wiig and can even deliver if they are not pregnant with the possibility of lines.
Forte? He is a class of its own. He's not quite Will Ferrell - yet. But he is willing to go to extremes to get a laugh. Pulling the car radio seems out of his Miata, as it would be old, but every time the gimmick works.
Explosions occur, but they do not overpower the rest of the film. You're not the go-to machine, we would expect.
Instead, "MacGruber forge" a new path for the base-on-TV movies. He says that the life in two-dimensional concepts. You just have to be prepared to find that extra dimension.
