# MacGruber (2021)

> A prison-released ultra-patriot reassembles his bungling old team to stop a villain from his past in this cancelled action spoof.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/89627

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 27 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: comedy, action
- Created by: John Solomon, Jorma Taccone, Will Forte
- Network: Peacock
- Cast: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Zane, Timothy V. Murphy, Maya Rudolph, Sam Elliott
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11621710/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: irreverent, absurd, crude, earnest, breezy

## What critics say

Audience response to MacGruber is mixed, with viewers enjoying its absurd, boundary-pushing spoof of action-hero tropes while finding its humor uneven across the single season.

## Synopsis

MacGruber (2021) is a US action comedy series created by John Solomon, Jorma Taccone and Will Forte for Peacock. Will Forte plays the title character, an overconfident ultra-patriot hero released after more than a decade in prison, who must reassemble his old team, including Kristen Wiig as Vicki St. Elmo and Ryan Phillippe as Dixon Piper, to stop the sinister Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth, played by Billy Zane. Laurence Fishburne joins as General Barrett Fasoose, and Sam Elliott appears as Perry MacGruber. The engine of the show is MacGruber's relentless self-regard colliding with missions that fall apart in absurd, escalating ways, so each eight-episode run plays like a sequence of ridiculous set pieces. The show is a single-season limited run that was canceled after its first season. Its tone is irreverent and crude, with earnest bravado played straight against profane gags. The series is set in contemporary America and spoofs spy and military action tropes in the vein of Hot Shots! and Get Smart, with fans of Burn Notice likely to find the team dynamic familiar. Its mix of cult comedy and gleeful absurdity suits viewers who enjoy broad parody.

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