At the Movies With Peter Travers: ‘Shrek Forever After’ and ‘MacGruber’
Two new summer blockbusters will attempt to knock Iron Man 2 out of Number One this weekend At the Movies: Shrek Forever After and MacGruber. Shrek will likely end Iron Man‘s reign thanks largely to one secret ingredient: 3-D. This is real deal 3-D, however, and Shrek Forever After improves upon Shrek the Third, the low point of the series. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy once again lend their voices as Shrek travels to an alternate reality after making a deal with the trickster Rumpelstiltskin. Bottom line: kids will love it.
MacGruber stars Will Forte in the feature-length version of the quick MacGyver spoofs that have appeared on Saturday Night Live. In theory, MacGruber should be the latest entry in the canon of bad SNL films, but Travers reports that the spy caper is actually really funny, mainly because it spoofs the ’80s action film genre that put Schwarzenegger, Seagal and Stallone on the map. The film was directed by the Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone and stars Forte’s SNL cohort Kristen Wiig. With its ridiculous violence, hard-Rated R profanity (a hilarious Val Kilmer portrays a villain with the last name “Von Cunth”) and just overall absurdity, it’s not for everyone, but as MacGruber says, “One person’s problem is another person’s no problem at all.”
Plus, check out Travers’ review of Solitary Man .