Current mood:	happy
Entry tags:	lansing, michigan, movie review, movies

Movie Review: My Name is Bruce
My Name is Bruce (2007, Campbell)

I was going to start out by saying that there should be a subtitle added to the name of this movie, something like "For Die Hard Fans Only," but then I realized that only die hard Bruce Campbell fans will be seeing this hilarious satirical gem. I had the great opportunity of seeing the premiere of this film at the East Lansing Film Festival last night--and it was hosted by Bruce Campbell himself. Bruce directed this film, which is a parody of himself and his body of work. In his introduction, Bruce said that what we were about to see was the "most final version to that point." He said there were a couple things that needed to be tweaked but it was the final cut--and we were the first audience to see it. Groovy.

The story is your basic Three Amigos/A Bug's Life/Galaxy Quest-type plot: Bruce plays himself, a B-Movie actor, who is kidnapped by a small town in Oregon in order to help rid them of a Chinese demon spirit (you read that correctly). Everyone in the town thinks he is the hero he plays in all his movies, specifically from the Evil Dead series, but they come to find out he is only a whiny, cowardly, drunkard. Hilarity ensues. Bruce really makes fun of himself and his status as a beloved B-Movie star in this role and you can tell he enjoys every second of it.

There are references aplenty to Bruce's films scattered throughout the story, so any one who is an avid fan will really enjoy this. And better still, Bruce has brought on some of his Evil Dead series co-stars as bit parts. The woman who played his sister in Evil Dead now plays his bitter ex-wife (still named Cheryl) and couple other guys. The best comes come at Bruce's expense, which aren't in short supply, and some of the best scenes show Bruce being an arrogant jerk to co-stars and fans or alone in his dilapidated trailer trying to drink his problems away (or giving booze to his dog "Hooch for the pooch!").

What we have here is a great capstone to Bruce's body of work and a great tribute not only to himself, but to his fans. It will delight die-hard Bruce Campbell fans, but the casual viewer may not get most of the humor if they don't know who Bruce is, but I think they would still find it funny. Ted Raimi is also in no less than three separate roles and pretty much steals any scene he is in. Bruce said in the Q & A that followed the film that he likes to include Ted in his films because "Ted makes me look subtle."

This is very much a low budget film, but it is only appropriate given the subject is that of satirizing the career of a low-budget movie star. However, it is really well made. The special effects are well done and the lighting/look if the film is great. We found out during the Q & A that it was shot in High Definition and that the lighting crew worked extra hard to make everything look good and that the lenses they rented actually cost more to rent than the HD cameras. Seeing this film in an MSU lecture hall may not have been the best venue to experience all of the HD goodness, so I'm looking forward to catching this on DVD eventually.

The Q & A segment that followed the film was great. This was the third time I've seen Bruce Campbell in person, and the previous time was a few years ago when he introduced Bubba Ho-tep at the East Lansing Film Festival. I found out I was actually sitting behind Tom Sullivan, special effects guy from the Evil Dead series, when he got up to (jokingly) ask Bruce if there was a chance of an Evil Dead 4. Bonus.

My Name is Bruce is a fun time and I recommend it for any Bruce Campbell or b-movie fan.