Big failure on the big screen

For almost 35 years, the late-night American television show Saturday Night Live has been mercilessly lampooning American politics and popular culture.

SNL has been a fertile breeding ground for character comedians and their hilarious alter egos. However, some of the sketches – such as those that inspired The Coneheads and The Ladies Man – haven’t translated well to widescreen: MacGruber can be added to the list of failures.

Based on a character created by actor Will Forte, MacGruber is a comedy about a hapless former soldier who is dragged out of retirement to save the world from his arch nemesis.

MacGruber (Forte) has never recovered from the murder of his wife (Rudolph) at the hands of the dastardly villain, Dieter Von Cunth (Kilmer).

He seeks sanctuary in a South American monastery where Colonel James Faith (Boothe) and eager subordinate Lieutenant Dixon Piper (Phillippe) track him down.

They implore MacGruber to re-enter active service and thwart Von Cunth, who has stolen a nuclear warhead. MacGruber cobbles together a team including Piper and old friend Vicki St Elmo (Wiig).

The plucky threesome attempt to infiltrate Von Cunth’s top-secret operative.

Forte sets the uneven tone as the homophobic incompetent, whose only talent seems to be ripping out extras’ throats.

Phillippe is the straight man in the middle of the lunacy, one smirk away from corpsing, while Wiig comes closest to making us care about her hapless girl Friday, who has to change her appearance as part of MacGruber’s hare-brained schemes.

MacGruber boldly promises Von Cunth that he will cut off an appendage and shove it in his mouth.

Anything that stops Kilmer chewing on the dreadful dialogue must be a good thing.