the rise in popularity that ‘saturday night live’ has experienced over the past 2 years is no doubt due to its hilarious new sketches. perhaps, they’re thinking, now would be a good time to pounce - a.ka. make money off their good ratings. snl has long tried its hand at translating skits into movies – with such “classics” as ‘the ladies man,’ & ‘the coneheads.’ none have ever really enjoyed great success, but it’s not surprising that snl execs aren’t ready to give up.  enter, macgruber.

the snl sketch ‘macgruber’ is a parody of tv’s ‘macgyver’ in which will forte repeatedly finds himself in a 15-seconds-’til-the-world-blows-up kind of situation. the usually 3 minute sketch is always funny, but i just don’t see how it’ll make a big screen hit. apparently i’m not the only one who feels that way. nevertheless, ‘macgruber’ is all set to begin shooting next month. the man behind the sketch, jorma taccone, will be directing the snl crew of forte & kristen wiig. here’s where it gets weird – ryan phillippe & val kilmer will be co-starring. yeah, moving on.

in the film, the legendary macgruber is forced to come out of retirement to defend his country against enemies with nuclear warheads. he’ll battle against  his ultimate nemesis – the man responsible for killing his wife. it all sounds well & good, but the funniest part of snl’s macgruber skits (see above) is when time runs out and everything blows up. do i smell anothe flop? probably.