Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, June 18, 2021

MACGRUBER (2010)

Another ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch-to-feature-film box-office dud, though unlike previous mega-flops (STUART SAVES HIS FAMILY/’95; IT’S PAT/94) showing unexpected resilience with a just announced sequel & series a decade after its quick theatrical-run death.  Why the resurrection?  It’s certainly no overlooked gem.  Will Forte’s goofy MACGYVER parody shorts on SNL were spot on compared to this Mike Myers/AUSTIN POWERS (or is it Rowan Atkinson/JOHNNY ENGLISH) wannabe.*  Clumsily directed by Jorma Taccone, who’d done the tv shorts and never another feature . . . well, not till the current reboot.  The jokes hit-and-miss with gal sidekick Kristen Wiig leaning into a ‘70s Jane Fonda look for most of her laughs; and straight-man/sidekick Ryan Phillippe showing us he's prettier than Channing Tatum. . . . or Wiig  Only a few MacGyver routines in here (the ones where he uses whatever’s at hand to concoct defense weapons before an abrupt BlackOut goes all Wile E. Coyote on him).  Instead, Forte keeps stripping down to his fit, hirsute torso and letting us know who’s dick he’s hot for.  You can almost hear Forte at the writers’ table: ‘Hey, great idea for a laugh.  In this scene . . . the guy’s buck naked!’   Also on hand, the sad remains of Val Kilmer as a silly villain, which leaves Powers Boothe’s military boss to garner a bit of comic dignity.  So, back to our initial question; why the current resurrection?  Perhaps folks fondly recall the short, funny sketches.  Or are we already nostalgic for 2010?

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK:  *Those who didn’t find Mike Myers/AUSTIN POWERS nearly as fun (or as funny) as the ‘60s spy films they spoofed might try Rowan Atkinson’s JOHNNY ENGLISH, big international hits which sunk Stateside.   https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/10/johnny-english-2003.html

No comments: