MacGruber (2021)

Goofy dresses, goofy names, goofy voices, or that trusty tape deck, “MacGruber” has everything you could want from a comedy homecoming nearly a dozen years in the making.

"MacGruber" the show is about as stupidly funny as you would hope. ... When it gets back to Forte and whatever dimwitted plan is forming in MacGruber's head, this series proves why the character deserves such an epic resurrection, and a second season.

A fun binge for fans of Forte and/or "whoever smelt it dealt it" jokes. [Feb 2022, p.101]

In all, whether “MacGruber” works for you, or doesn’t, will depend on your patience for sophomoric puns and your knowledge of and deep interest in soldier-of-fortune flicks. But while much of the show can leave the uninitiated cold, its unity of tone, and its ability to keep spinning its simple premise into madness, are genuinely impressive. Chalk up another win for Forte’s unkillable hero.

The show still goofs amusingly on how the one-man-army brand of patriotism sold by so many action movies is actually just raging narcissism, and Forte remains an expert at poor attempts to disguise a tantrum as laconic cool. ... It’s a shame, though, that this supersized version can’t sustain its satirical ambitions or its goofy emotional notes as well as, say, a longer-form Ferrell effort like Talladega Nights.

This latest incarnation hasn’t quite reached the popping point for the brand, but it also doesn’t feel like TV has somehow become its ideal vehicle. The standout parts are still every bit as funny, while the gaps between those parts have only grown.

An unnecessary reminder that not everything that's funny for three minutes works for two hours, much less four.