Posesión demencial

I just got back from the first screening of "My Name is Bruce," and I am very impressed. To put it simply, the movie is a film made by Bruce Campbell for Bruce Campbell fans. If you're not a Bruce Campbell fan, then you're probably not reading this post, so I'll move on.

An ancient Chinese deity is set free a small Southern Oregon town (a town Bruce Campbell calls the sequel to Deliverance at one point), and the townsfolk (and, yes, they are folk) decide to enlist the help of Bruce Campbell to stop the evil force. Bruce, however, believes the whole thing to be an elaborate hoax and plays along.

This movie is funny, but it's two kinds of funny here. There are the jokes that anybody can sit down and enjoy, and then there are the "in" references that only Bruce fans can really enjoy. And there are a lot of "ins" (I don't envy the person who has to do the trivia section for this one). Some are from his more famous works (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, etc.) and will only truly be appreciated by the hardest of the hard core (Mindwarp, McHale's Navy).

I can't really discuss much of the technical merits of the film, since my screening was done on an early edit. There were no special effects, the music was of the stand-in variety, and some of the sound effects sounded like they had come from a Warner Bros. cartoon (also stand-in). However, the movie's slant toward the realm of the B-movie makes these quirks seem perfectly in place. I still enjoy myself despite them, and the movie might have taken on a whole new charm because of them. I'll have to check out a clean version to be sure.

In conclusion, if you're a Bruce Campbell fan, you're going to see this movie regardless of what you read here; however, I'll save you the anxiety and say you won't be disappointed in the least. If you're not a huge fan, this movie is still worth a viewing, since it's comedy could be seen as ripping on the horror genre in general and in a far superior way than the "Scary Movie" trilogy ever did.

I am not a scary Bruce Campbell fan but enjoy seeing him in really anything as he always is ever-ready to inject some humor into whatever vehicle he stars in or even just appears in. After seeing Bubba-Ho-Tep I soon found out that he has real acting talent though it is not so evident in this film that parodies Campbell's life(a fictionalized one) and his career and his fan base I might add. In a small mining town called Goldlick a Chinese demon is freed by curious teens in an old cemetery. One of the boys is a huge Campbell fan and eventually sets off to Campbell's abode(a dilapidated trailer in the middle of the woods(yes, it is indeed a fictionalized account of his life)to bring Campbell to Goldlick to defeat the demon. It is a fun movie and really nothing else than a chance to see Campbell give his fans what they want to see - him mugging his way through each and every scene, interacting with the other actors in some real funny dialog, and plot scenarios that at least incorporate some of the Campbell mythos if you will. This film is for Campbell fans as they are the only ones that will get much of the humor. That's okay. It is for them. Some I suspect will be disappointed at the really tame and almost sweet nature of the film. Campbell says and does inappropriate things but you never get the feeling he is mean-spirited in any way. Much of his humor is solely lampooning himself and more often his very real work resume. I found myself laughing regularly throughout though the film is silly throughout. Campbell delivers as does most of the cast. The gal playing his love interest Grace Thorsen is a real looker to boot. Campbell shows he has ability for creativity beyond his acting as he also directs the movie. The Chinses demon is impressive for the special effects used(obviously not a huge budget here). The best part of the film for me doesn't even have Campbell in it. The two minstrels that open the film(the mayor and the sheriff of the town playing guitars and singing the Ballad of Guan-Di_ and periodically pop up throughout the picture had me rolling as they sand so seriously and one in foreground and one in the background and walked and sang through the woods. Very clever and very funny!

Maybe it was the expectations that killed it for me, after all, I have been waiting for a full year to see it, but I did not think it was terribly funny.

The plot centers around Bruce Campbell and his failed life: busted marriage, bad movies, career plummeting and, above all, being a complete jerk. He makes fun of all these points which is funny at the beginning, but then you realize that they hit too close to home. The movie IS bad, the effects ARE cheesy, he continues to be a jerk that one can't relate to much, the jokes get worse and worse and in the end, the grand finale is pretty lame.

Bottom line: If you are a die hard fan of Campbell, you will probably "get it", but I really doubt many people will be amused by the movie.

Bruce Campbell is called to Gold Lick to fight the evil Chinese war god Guan-di after one of his biggest fans, Jeff, awakens the demon and mistakenly believes that Bruce would know how to fight such creatures. Campbell accepts, but only because he believes the entire thing to be a movie shoot.

Not surprisingly, there is going to be two groups of people for this film: the die-hard Campbell fans who love it, and the others. The others might like it, they might hate it, but they'll be left cold if they realize the jokes aren't meant for them. The film really has no solid plot (it's been done before...) and the acting isn't great... and the jokes are, at best, average.

Campbell's actor friends show up: Timothy Patrick Quill, Ted Raimi, Dan Hicks and even Ellen Sandweiss. Some of the in-jokes are slightly clever (having Sandweiss play "Cheryl", the same character's name she had in "Evil Dead") while others are just too blunt and insult the audience's intelligence. Other references such as "I worked with Sam Raimi" just seem thrown in for good measure. I understand the point was to reference Campbell's past films, but it wasn't subtle at all and seemed poorly thought out.

Bruce Campbell is Bruce Campbell, so if you like him, you will like this film. That's pretty much all there is to say about that. He directed it, he stars in it and he had a strong guiding hand in the writing process. You get the best of Campbell and the worst in this film... and don't forget for every good Campbell film ("Army of Darkness") there are at least two bad films.

I had the privilege of catching a screening in Madison with Campbell himself on hand for questions and answers. This really made the experience special, but did not make me feel any better about the film. The audience generally seemed to laugh more than I did, so maybe I'm in the minority. But when Bruce answered questions, he didn't offer any reassurance that he cared much about the film... if anything, his appearance seemed to suggest he felt he couldn't sell tickets without a gimmick.

I received a DVD copy in the mail as part of my reviewing duties, and gave it a second viewing. In all fairness, I en joyed the film much more the second time, having a better sense of what sort of humor and style the film would be going for. My suggestion is this: if you're a Campbell fan, pick up a copy. If not, you'll want to see other Campbell films first to really appreciate this one. Luckily for the people who made this film, there are plenty of Bruce Campbell fans to see this one with a smile on their face.

Fanboy is a term used to describe any individual who is devoted to a single subject in an emotional or fanatical manner, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession.

There was a day when I considered myself a Bruce Campbell fanboy. I've seen 90% of his movies, own posters and even a talking Bruce Campbell doll. Hell, I just remembered my ringtone to this day is quotes from Army of Darkness. But I realized after watching this movie, I'm not one. I never really backed up his weaker movies and honestly I didn't even enjoy Running Time. Which Bruce I guess holds some love for. Anywho, after only the beginning scene of MNisB I instantly realized this wouldn't be my cup of tea. And the biggest reason why, the amateur level seriously shows. The supporting actors (most of them) and the writing are just so damn unimpressive. The flick completely relied on Bruce to save the day. But with writing this weak, that's no easy chore.

The story itself is kinda cool, especially when we heard about it 5 years ago....or whenever the hell it first got buzz. Bruce is called upon for help, but fails miserably to live up to his legendary hero status. That's funny, and still is. But the movie didn't do that justice very well. I can only remember myself smirking a handful of times, and that's no joke. And probably a couple of the smirks were because of Grace Thorsen's massive boobs. Talking about a total babe.

This isn't to dismay anyone from seeing it, especially Bruce fans, since there are tons of nods and hidden jokes, but if you also can control your giddiness and fanboyisms (?), you'll see this film isn't a Bruce classic And the moron who said "if you like Bubba Ho-Tep, you'll love this." Wow, that is so off. Bubba Ho-Tep is ten times the movie this is. Which is a damn shame, because Bruce fanboys waited a while to see this one. I may still be a Bruce fanboy to some people, but I'll be the first to say this was one weak Bruce outing. 6 outta 10 for the Bruce swearing, the big, bouncing bosoms on Grace, and the handful of jokes that worked.