It’s unfortunate that Saturday Night Live has gotten a rep for being pretty unfunny in the past couple of years. Everybody will, of course, claim “the show stopped being funny when X left” but the truth of the matter is that it becomes a completely different beast every few years, starting when they made the first major cast change back in 1980.

These days, the level of writing, led by head writer Seth Meyers, has been adapted to a younger audience. With bits like music videos from The Lonely Island or the one-liners in Weekend Update, they are definitely appealing to a crowd under the age of 30. Even a skit like MacGruber, which is based on a bumbling protagonist (Will Forte) and the inevitable explosion ending isn’t exactly highbrow comedy, but mostly visual humor and random vulgarity.

Sadly, that’s exactly where the film adaptation of MacGruber picks up. It continues the trend of sight gags that don’t really pay off and more vulgarity than an uncensored episode of South Park. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of SNL, Forte, and the MacGruber skit, but the film lives up to the low expectation everyone had for it, in just being a 30 second skit stretched out into 90 minutes.

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While we’re still winding down from our crazy week over in Austin for SXSW, there are still plenty of great goodies and stories to share with you. One of which is for a film that debuted at the show, MacGruber, starring Will Forte.

The film is another skit-turned-film in the vein of Night at the Roxbury and Wayne’s World as the character is taken straight from Forte’s performance on Suturday Night Live. The film is directed by SNL writer Jorma Taccone, and written by the trio of Forte, Taccone, and John Solomon, another SNL writer.

With three writers from SNL working on the film, it only makes sense that head writer Seth Meyers would have some input on the film as well. He was down on the set for a while with the cast and crew. After the jump, check out a panel for MacGruber at SXSW in which Meyers discusses a harrowing  story about his experience.

MacGruber hits theaters May 21st.

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Fans of Saturday Night Live and Will Forte rejoice! The very first trailer for the upcoming MacGruber, based on the Will Forte SNL skit, has finally hit the web, and it looks pretty damned funny.

Penned by Forte, along with other SNL writers Jorma Taccone (Hot Rod) and John Solomon, the script adapts the 30-second MacGuyver spoofs in which MacGruber must disarm a ticking bomb, which never happens due to the ensuing antics. The film was stretched and fluffed into a almost spy-like plot in which MacGruber must take down international terrorist Deiter von Cunth (Val Kilmer), all while sporting a blond mullet and looking cool.

This is the first SNL alum-starring, Lorne Michaels-produced film since 2008′s Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Pohler. Expect this film to do better than the aforementioned film, given the talent involved. MacGruber also stars Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Ryan Phillippe, and others.

Check out the very first trailer (Red Band, so NSFW due to language) after the jump, and expect to see MacGruber blowing stuff up on screen on April 23rd.

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We haven’t posted much about the film adaptation of SNL’s recurring MacGruber skit here at the site, frankly because none of us think it’s a good idea. There’s now word coming in that Ryan Phillippe and Val Kilmer may be joining the cast as well, which may actually add to the film’s credibility. From the Hollywood Reporter,

Ryan Phillippe is in negotiations to star in the feature, with Val Kilmer in negotiations to also join the Relativity Media production. Will Forte and Kristen Wiig are reprising their roles from the skits. Jorma Taccone, who created the character and directed most of the skits, is helming; “SNL” producer and creator Lorne Michaels is producing.

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