Since the inception of Saturday Night Live, some 35 years ago, young comics have used the show as a platform to launch feature film careers. Chevy Chase was the first to decamp for Hollywood, in 1976, after only a single season on the show. Others soon followed, including Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Jon Belushi, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Chris Rock, Gilda Radner and Adam Sandler. Frankly, the list is so long, if an SNL alumnus doesn’t make the jump to feature films it should be regarded as a definitive career failure.
The problem with many SNL spin-off movies is that they seem like TV skits on steroids. They might be funny for five minutes on the tube, but they seem pretty thin when inflated to fill an hour and a half. “MacGruber” is the latest of these ventures, and the fact that its basic premise (a spoof of the TV action show, “MacGyver”) actually began as a recurring skit on SNL isn’t a particularly good omen.
The cast features SNL regulars Will Forte, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, along with Ryan Phillippe, Powers Boothe and Val Kilmer (who’s beginning to look like Marlon Brando during his later, beached whale phase). The film was directed by Jorma Taccone, and produced by SNL honcho Lorne Michaels.
From the Press Kit:
Only one American hero has earned the rank of Green Beret, Navy SEAL and Army Ranger. Just one operative has been awarded 16 purple hearts, 3 Congressional Medals of Honor and 7 presidential medals of bravery. And only one guy is man enough to still sport a mullet. In 2010, Will Forte brings Saturday Night Live’s clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action comedy MacGruber. In the 10 years since his fiancée was killed, special op MacGruber has sworn off a life of fighting crime with his bare hands. But when he learns that his country needs him to find a nuclear warhead that’s been stolen by his sworn enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), MacGruber figures he’s the only one tough enough for the job. Assembling an elite team of experts—Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig)—MacGruber will navigate an army of assassins to hunt down Cunth and bring him to justice. His methods may be unorthodox. His crime scenes may get messy. But if you want the world saved right, you call in MacGruber.
– Universal Pictures