Comments on: 5 Thoughts On: MacGruber

By: Sean Duncan

Sean Duncan — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:29:52 +0000

To bring this conversation full circle, she’s also going to appear in the next Simon Pegg/Nick Frost film, Paul, which is directed by Greg Mottola, shot in the US last summer and featuring all sorts of people from the current SNL and Apatow stable (Wiig, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio, Seth Rogen doing voicework for the alien).

It’s a small comedy world, after all.

By: Nick Marx

Nick Marx — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:12:52 +0000

Right on, Annie, and I agree with both accounts, actually. I’m a huge fan of Kristen Wiig and have especially loved her scene-stealing roles in a couple of forgettable movies lately (Knocked-Up, Extract), but like Myles says, SNL is really out to run her likability in the ground (Gilly, anyone?). I think they know she’s their only actor with mass appeal and versatility, and they’re steering her straight for the dreaded let’s-make-sure-we-get-a-best-of-DVD-out-of-her territory.

RE: sexism in the world of humor, anyone have any thoughts on the film’s running joke that likely took it to “hard R” territory? Kilmer’s villain is named “Dieter Von Cunth”…

By: Myles McNutt

Myles McNutt — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:06:42 +0000

I enjoy Kristen Wiig, but Saturday Night Live is currently on a feverish campaign to make me LOATHE her. She’s been front and center in the show’s creative black hole as of late, and the show’s desire to turn her into its star player has come at the worst possible time.

By: Annie Petersen

Annie Petersen — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:01:25 +0000

At the risk of insinuating continued sexism as concerns the world of humor and women’s place within it, how is it possible that this post — and ten comments after it — have managed to completely avoid even mentioning the presence, not to mention brilliance, of Kristen Wiig? For me, she’s the funniest part of this trailer. While a few scenes put her in Katherine Heigl/Leslie Mann straight-man position (for instance, she just has to stand there and react to the knowledge of the “upper-decker”) — she also gets the final line of the trailer, which we all know is where they place the bits they hope to get the strongest and most enduring laugh. Did I mention she’s really, really funny? And her name’s not Tina Fey?

By: Myles McNutt

Myles McNutt — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:57:06 +0000

While I doubt MacGruber will be nominated for any sort of award (although I probably would have said the same about Tropic Thunder, and then Robert Downey Jr. happened) in the same way that Lonely Island picked up a Grammy nomination, I think the comparison is most apt. The one thing that will be interesting is whether or not MacGruber could spread virally in the same way: Lonely Island tapped into the success of the Digital Shorts, and thus felt more like a logical extension of an online phenomenon as opposed to a sudden shift from one medium to another. Here, I wonder if the presumed lack of depth in "sketch comedy" will hurt impressions of a film derived from one: while Lonely Island was something new and exciting, MacGruber was all but written off until the trailer turned out to be not awful. Also, in terms of "Reasons we love Will Forte," I'll add Clone High to the list. Abe FTW.

By: Nick Marx

Nick Marx — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:29:35 +0000

Great point, Jason. This can certainly be expanded to people like Tarantino and beyond comedians. Ironic distance seems to be reversing its path a bit and coming closer to something like an embrace.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:17:16 +0000

Interesting take. I too was thinking of Pegg/Wright while reading this. But I wouldn’t frame it as action/comedy, but rather to pick up on your earlier point about “reverence/ridicule”–the reason Hot Fuzz and Shaun work so well is because they really do aspire to *be* the film they are parodying. They fully commit to the exigencies of the genre they’re spoofing, rather than just maintain a flat, ironic distance. Might we say the same thing about post-Reservoir Tarantino?

By: Nick Marx

Nick Marx — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:37:58 +0000

Well played, Dave.

By: David Gurney

David Gurney — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:52:04 +0000

Great post Nick, but in your comment, are you saying that Pluto Nash (or Chubby Rain for that matter) is a conventional comedy?

By: Nick Marx

Nick Marx — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:54:53 +0000

Good point Derek. I thought long and hard about all the 80s flicks MacGruber is parodying, and BHC is definitely an interesting case. But I’d have to agree with Sean, esp given BHC’s long path to become what it eventually became. Seems like more of an action flick that, over the course of production, increasingly came to accommodate Murphy’s rising star as a comedian. This might be bolstered further by the fact that Murphy went on to do mostly conventional comedies (and unconventionally dressed ladies). Sorry, I couldn’t resist.