Welcome back to Junkfood Cinema. What we do here, besides significantly skew the national cholesterol averages, is to blur the line between the worlds of bad movies and worse food. Like junk food, we recognize the lack of substantial value in these movies as far as film school dieticians are concerned, but we will still happily and lovingly scarf down box after box of sweet, frosted VHS tape… (Our metaphors have mixed like as similes allusion parable — sorry, third sugar stroke today). Where this approach becomes fuzzy, like gravy-left-on-the-counter-for-eight-days fuzzy, is when a bad restaurant is at the center of a bad movie. As devoid of taste as either the restaurant or movie (or both) may be, we can’t help but find ourselves wishing we could slip the surly bonds of reality and cross through the screen. We also wish the bonds of Fazoli’s hours of operation weren’t so surly, to say nothing of its night security guard. Such is the case with Nickelodeon’s 1997 fatsterpiece Good Burger. It began life as a sketch on the comedy/variety show All That, and then someone decided this marvel of noncomedy was worthy of a filmic adaptation. I guess that sketch where Amanda Bynes screams at people didn’t quite have the legs as did a sketch that boldly draws attention to the … ineptitude of fast food employees. Inspired by a recent article in the New York Times, in which restaurant reviewer Pete Wells eviscerates Guy Fieri’s Times Square cafe by simply

Andy Samberg‘s comedic sensibility isn’t exactly what one would label as mainstream. From the epic Laser Cats series, the Lonely Island sketches, to the overlooked Hot Rod, his brand of humor can be somewhat of an acquired taste. Since leaving SNL, it’ll be interesting to see if he’ll stick with that tone or, as he says he hopes to, give a grounded Apatowian performance someday. In the latest Happy Madison Picture, That’s My Boy, Samberg doesn’t give that realistic performance he’s talking about. When you’re acting with Vanilla Ice or going one-on-one with James Caan, realism certainly isn’t the goal. But, as Samberg explains, the film also features the sentimental side Sandler’s broad comedies usually play up. Here’s what That’s My Boy star Andy Samberg had to say about his knack for taking a beating, over thinking comedy, and why an even more bizarre cut of Hot Rod deserves a Criterion release:

Do you have your taxes done? The clock is ticking away to midnight on April 17th to file. If you don’t, you might end up owing $5,000 to the government, and unlike a certain Chicago orphanage, you can’t rely on “Joliet” Jake Blues and his brother Elwood to raise that money for you. Although released more than 30 years ago, The Blues Brothers still strikes a chord with audiences around the world. Revisit the classic SNL-spawned musical from the days when SNL films were actually good. Kick back and wash down your dry white toast and four fried chickens with blue-collar beer from a honky-tonk bar. Just make sure you fill out those tax forms before you’re done with the game, or you might not remember to mail them.

There’s maybe never been any other film that looked as bad in its advertising and went on to be as deeply loved as MacGruber. People are into that movie big time. Which is impressive, because it manages to get tons of laughs despite being built on a pretty thin premise. You have to chalk a big portion of it’s success up to director Jorma Taccone, who has served as a writer and director on Saturday Night Live since 2005, and is a member of The Lonely Island (you know, those digital shorts guys) alongside Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. He’s a talented fellow, and any future projects he works on should be considered big news.

With so many rights, how could this be wrong? The Oscar-nominated director plans to produce (at least) a prep school satire where a young loser is taken under the wing of the kid with the longest rap sheet in school.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr hands out grades to Shrek: The Final Chapter 3D, MacGruber and Human Centipede.

Kevin gives his lukewarm review of the new Shrek movie while Neil shows some 80s action movie love for MacGruber! The Fat Guys also promise to play a listener voice mail, then reneg on that promise (they’re awesome like that), then take a look at the gruesome and controversial Human Centipede.

Bad guy steals nuclear weapon. Government calls in a top secret operative. A Saturday Night Live sketch is stretched to its limits.

When Frank moves in with Liz after a fire at his place, they each vow to help the other kick their bad habits: eating unhealthily for Liz and smoking for Frank. Jenna turns to Jack for help when her unfit mother, Verna (Jan Hooks) shows up, but Jack is skeptical when it appears she’s turned over a new leaf.

It’s time to brush up on lawsuits and find out the legal status on mullets.

As SNL reaches the zenith of existence by abandoning sketches midway through, an icon of our American fighting forces is being featured in a new non-cursing trailer for his mullet-filled movie. MacGruber, in trailer form, has arrived.

So you’re not all that excited about a one-off SNL sketch becoming a feature-length film? If it’s R-rated, maybe you should be.

It was either this headline, or something about how a guy who loves sports is going to direct a spoof, and I didn’t think anyone would get that reference. My other option was “Taccone Directs Feature while Samberg and T-Pain are at Kinko’s Straight Flipping Copies,” and it seemed way too long.

If you’ve been lurking around the FSR offices at any point during the past few months, you may know that we are obsessed with the latest album from The Lonely Island. We also do things like a boss all the time…

The two former SNL cast mates drop some pregnancy-related comedy on us…

Season 2 on DVD lives up to the release of season one in 2006.

As much as I support the writers in their ongoing battle against the studios, the WGA strike could be a blessing in disguise for Saturday Night Live. Maybe the show’s really dying this time. It’s hard to say.