DVD review: “My Name is Bruce”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“My Name Is Bruce”
With its kitschy horror, wisecracking humor and do-it-yourself production values, “My Name Is Bruce” lives up to its promise as the ultimate Bruce Campbell movie.
As with his funny 2005 book “Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way,” the B-movie star brings a hilarious, ego-defying brand of meta humor to the low-budget film. He plays a boozy, womanizing, obnoxious version of himself, an insufferable actor whose career in bargain-basement horror flicks has hit an all-time low with the horrid creature feature “Cave Alien 2″ (a spoof of Campbell’s Sci-Fi Channel movie “Alien Apocalypse”).
When a group of sex-crazed teenagers in small-town Gold Lick, Ore., defile the ancient graves of Chinese miners, they accidentally unleash the fearsome deity Guan-di, Chinese protector of the dead and bean curd.
Jeff (Taylor Sharpe), the only teen to survive Guan-di’s initial attack, is a Bruce Campbell superfan, and he persuades the townsfolk that their only hope is to kidnap Bruce and pit him against the deadly demon.
Convinced the situation is an elaborate birthday hoax arranged by his agent (Ted Raimi, entertaining in multiple roles), Bruce goes along with the villagers – until his first encounter with Guan-di. Bruce then must decide whether he has any real-life heroics in him.
“My Name Is Bruce” is packed with broad, satirical humor, cheesy special effects and Campbell’s mega-watt charm. Not all the gags work – Do we really need another “Brokeback Mountain” spoof? – but fans of the “Evil Dead” trilogy will delight in seeing Campbell and several familiar faces in full-on B-movie mode.
Oklahomans should keep an eye out for former local newsmen Butch and Ben McCain, who play Gold Lick’s musical mayor and sheriff and perform the folksy tune “Guan-di Is His Name.”
And Bruce Campbell fans will be thrilled to see that their B-movie hero’s steady gig on the successful and widely praised USA show “Burn Notice” hasn’t dulled his horror-comic sensibilities.
DVD features: The in-depth making-of documentary “Heart of Dorkness,” several behind-the-scenes featurettes, commentary with Campbell, trailer and a fake trailer and making-of featurette on “Cave Alien 2.”
- BAM
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Okay, I was gonna say nice Bruce Campbell things here, but I forgot them all when I read “Heart of Dorkness.” That really made me laugh for some reason.