Review: MacGruber — It’s Watchable ★★★☆☆
For those who enjoyed MacGruber’s original incantation as a multi-part skit on Saturday Night Live, but hated its film adaptation, the new MacGruber series streaming on Peacock is a watchable middle ground. Despite all odds, this series about an idiot who emerged from a special forces career with only a fleeting grasp on reality succeeds in further developing old characters, with support from seasoned actors. (Warning: mild spoilers ahead.)
Although the 2010 MacGruber film is only for some (it has a 35% Audience Rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of January 1), rewatching it (or at least skimming the plot on wikipedia) is a good idea before beginning this series. Viewers return to the same storyline to find former military officer MacGruber serving a prison sentence for past transgressions during the heat of battle. Casual throat ripping assures us, and the new General in charge (Fishburne), that he has not lost his touch. Typical MacGruber-style shenanigans unfold, as MacGruber is reintroduced to his estranged wife/partner Vicki (Wiig), and partner Piper (Ryan Phillippe) amid a grand conspiracy, which leads MacGruber to call on his father (Elliott) and revisit his tragic past.
In a rare encore for an oft criticized SNL character, Forte delivers a more refined performance than in previous versions. MacGruber’s ridiculous persona is consistent across the series, and the jokes flow coherently throughout, which is a testament to how far the Forte-Solomon-Taccone writing team has come since the character was introduced in 2007. Wiig’s performance is similarly polished, while Elliott, Fishburne, and Phillipe deliver the strong performances audiences expect of them.
Overall, the series has a very high joke density. Many — perhaps most — of the jokes fall flat, but what remains makes it worth a casual binge by fans of Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and SNL. It is, however, rated TV-MA — viewers are exposed to extreme violence, repeated peaks of Forte’s hairy ass, and many other sexual images. This is not likely to be something you will watch with your young children; better used as a show to laugh at with someone over a drink.
