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Universal Pictures
There are some important, thought-provoking pictures worth seeing at SXSW Film this year, from a documentary on Osama Bin Laden's former bodyguard (The Oath) to the tale of a Scottish stand-up comedian whose past tragically becomes part of his act (Crying With Laughter). Last night, however, the thought that most provoked me was: if outnumbered by armed henchmen, how could one possibly overtake them with nothing but a stalk of celery from a nearby trash bin? The answer, of course, is waiting in MacGruber.
Saturday Night Live skits that get the Hollywood treatment (The Ladies Man, Superstar, Night at the Roxbury, Coneheads, and let's not forget It's Pat) have been, with just a few exceptions, critical and box office disasters. Stuart Saves His Family, for instance, cost $15 million to make. It grossed under a million, and has a 29 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes. If you've ever tried watching it, you understand. Blame Wayne's World, which grossed six times its budget and led to the foolish trend of taking two-minute sketches (some of which weren't terribly funny in the first place) and turning them into two-hour films.
It's been so bad, in fact, that it has been a full ten years since an SNL skit was made into a movie. (The last was Ladies Man, from 2000.) Fortunately, someone decided that despite the history it was time to get back on that horse, mullet wig in hand.