Review: ‘My Name Is Bruce’

Jerry:

What does one do when the ancient Chinese deity Guan-Di, God of War and Protector of Bean Curd, has been “unreashed† by a group of dumb teenagers defacing an old burial ground in your quant little mining town?

You Call Bruce Campbell, that’s what you do.

‘My Name Is Bruce’ is a terrible movie, and I loved nearly every minute of it. Now when I say it’s terrible, I am not saying anything about the entertainment value nor am I saying it’s poorly made. I am saying that this is 100% B-movie awesomeness. The story begins as a typical tale of dumb teenagers defacing a cursed burial ground and stirring up a monster that starts a rampage on a small town. The clichà ©s fly across the screen more often than decapitated heads in this film. However, that is the point.

The town of Gold Lick is being threatened by Guan Di while Bruce Campbell is off making the hilariously low budget ‘Cave Alien 2’. This Bruce Campbell also happens to be an alcoholic, sex-crazed, depressed loser who pretty much hates his fans and feels his career is in the toilet. Jeff, the only surviving teenager from the initial incident with Guan Di, kidnaps Bruce and takes him back to Gold Lick in order to defeat the demon. Jeff also happens to be the world’s biggest Bruce Campbell fan, with his bedroom being a shrine to the man and his work.

As you can tell, the movie is very self referential and very self-deprecating. Bruce makes fun of himself, his fan base and low budget horror movies but it’s all in good fun. Perhaps my favorite line in the entire film comes when Bruce realizes he is in the trunk of the car of one of his fans. I won’t ruin the line but I will say that the delivery is perfect and it captures the whole spirit of the film. There is also a great attention to detail throughout the movie, with perhaps the most being the amount of Bruce Campbell memorabilia crammed into Jeff’s room. There are numerous references to many fan favorites but there are also some fake films not really in the Campbell filmology. I consider myself a big fan and even I was not sure whether or not some of the films were real, which added to the fun. Bruce even uses some lines of dialogue straight from his other films and takes on a hilarious “Ash† persona to pick up chicks.

“If you’re good I’ll show you my boomstick.†

Bruce Campbell is flat out hysterical in the film, but I also want to give a nod to Ted Raimi. Raimi plays several characters with my favorite being Wing, an old Chinese caretaker. I just want to say that Wing kicks the shit out of the Rob Schneider’s Chinese priest explaining circles in ‘I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry’ in the completely over the top stereotypical Chinese character category. I’d also like to point out that this is Campbell’s second time behind the camera as director and he does a much better job this time around, although I did enjoy ‘Man With The Screaming Brain’.

The movie is just a lot of fun. I will admit that it did slow down a bit in the middle but the ending more than makes up for it. The beginning was also pitch perfect, especially the over the top performances and actions taken by the dumb horny teenagers. If you are looking for scares or lots of gore, stay away. If you are looking for a fun movie with lots of laughs, a little bit of violence, some funny slapstick, low brow humor and “the greatest actor of his generation,† then look no further. ‘My Name Is Bruce’ is the next best thing to ‘Evil Dead 4’.

I just want to add that Bruce Campbell is currently touring with ‘My Name Is Bruce’ visiting theaters across the US. He usually appears at 2 or 3 of the later showings to introduce the film and then does a Q and A about it afterwards with the crowd. If you are going to see the film, I highly recommend you go to one of the later showings because the man is amazing in person. He is very laid back and has a lot of fun with the audience. It’s actually less like a Q and A and more like an open conversation since he asks as many questions as the fans. Check out www.bruce-campbell.com for a listing of where he is showing the film and what times he will be in attendance.

And as per Bruce’s request, on his behalf I would like to extend a big fuck you to the critics from the NY Times, TimeOUT NY, and the Village Voice who trashed the film. The film really is funny and they just didn’t get the point of it.

[Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets of Bean Curds, 5 out of 5 if you go to a showing that Bruce is at]

Jerry Cavallaro – www.AreYouStuckLikeChuck.com