MacGruber's Dragon Tattoo

My two latest theatrical viewings are two wildly different features: one is an adaptation of an SNL sketch that lasts less than 2 minutes, and the other is an adaptation of a 500+ page Swedish novel that has become the new "it" book, deservedly or not. How were they? Which was better?

Surprisingly, MacGruber is not an awful movie, which is probably should have been. What saves it, and just barely, is that it embraces its juvenile sense of humor without veering into full-blown gross-out territory. Though it starts off without many laughs, as it builds, the number of laughs does slightly increase, thanks to good chemistry among Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and stiff-as-wood straight man Ryan Phillippe. Wiig is easily MVP, though there are a few instances of straight up absurdity from Forte that are worth a chuckle. It's good for a few laughs, but it's nothing remotely memorable, and if you can find a way to see it without paying, so much the better. It also never drags, or becomes offensively unfunny either, which helps.

Grade: C

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is the better of the two, unfortunately suffers from one problem which MacGruber didn't: pacing. The first hour in this 2 hr 20 min murder mystery is, well, inert. It takes far too long for Michael Blomqvist (Michael Nyqvist) and punk hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to finally join forces, hindered by a wholly unnecessary detour involving the destruction of Lisbeth's laptop. The incident becomes a device simply to build to a scene where we learn how tough Lisbeth can be when you wrong her, although this is vaguely shown in a flashback as well, so it doesn't feel entirely necessary. The mystery itself also isn't as ground breaking as reviews/fans of the novel make it out to be, and pulls out an easy trump card to make the hidden villain(s) instantly despicable. Thankfully, the second hour or so, when the mystery actually begins to become clear, is much more intriguing, though it does lessen the impact of one twist. It does effectively build some strong tension though, but once it reaches its true climax, it meanders into a lengthy 20 minute epilogue to finally resolve the story and set up for the second installment: The Girl Who Played With Fire (opening in the US on July 2nd). Overall, it's a good thriller, but it takes far too long, and keeps too close to the source material. This is one foreign film that actually makes me long for its already-planned English remake (directed by David Fincher, who should do wonders with the material).

Grade: B/B-