Bruce Campbell, a vengeful Chinese god… and bean curd?
Image Courtesy of IMPawards.com
Director: Bruce Campbell
Notable Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Taylor Sharpe and Grace Thorsen
If you haven’t seen and loved The Evil Dead trilogy or Bubbha Ho-Tep, then My Name is Bruce isn’t for you. Not only will you not find it the least bit amusing, but you just won’t get 90% of the comedy.
In the small town of Gold Lick, Oregon back in the gold rush days, a bunch of Chinese immigrants moved to the town to work in the mines. Then there was a terrible earthquake and over 100 miners died. So a seal was placed on the cave-in, the seal of Guan-di, the Chinese God of War, protector of the dead and bean curd.
One night a group of teens, one who happens to be the biggest Bruce Campbell fan of all time, go to the old cemetery near the mine to vandalize and make out. Jeff (Taylor Sharpe) sees the seal and removes it unwittingly unleashing the wrath of Guan-di on the small town. Being such a huge Bruce Campbell fan Jeff can think of only one thing to save his town.
So he kidnaps Bruce, who is understandably annoyed until he starts to think that the whole thing is an elaborate birthday present set up his agent (Ted Raimi). From there Bruce plays along, goes to fight the monster and realizes it’s real. If you’re a Bruce Campbell fan you can probably guess where it goes from there
The real joy of this film is Bruce Campbell making fun of himself and his acting career. There are many stabs at the many bad roles he’s played over the years and his inabilities as an actor. He’s also making fun of himself with jerk persona his character has in the movie. The Bruce in this film it not a nice guy. At one point a drunk and depressed Bruce screams “They’re not gonna make me look pathetic!” as he drinks cheap whiskey from a dog bowl. Several of his classic lines are recycled here in amusing ways like when he’s hitting on the only cute woman in town, Kelly (Grace Thorsen) and tells her that later he’ll show her his “boomstick.”
In one fantastic moment, Bruce and the rest of the town are running away from Gaun-di Bruce is firing his gun behind him taking down townsfolk left and right while they all shout “Stop shooting! Stop shooting!” There are even a few subtle things that show how pathetic the film version of Bruce is, like that fact that he lives in a messy trailer and has a turn dial television and a rotary telephone. It is little things like this that really make the movie work.
The movie also plays off many stereotypes of other b-horror films. Many of the characters play out typical horror movies scenes: going to check out the strange noise and sounds outside only to be decapitated moments later for example. Even a young boy simply named Skippy gets laughs just for his name. Then there is the whole bean curd, which lends itself to hilarity.
The acting in the film is pretty bad. Campbell hams it up, per usual, and does a great job of it. Grace Thorsen is probably the best actor in the film doing her best with the ridiculous dialogue and underdeveloped character she’s been given. These two almost make their twenty-four romance believable, or at the very least entertaining. Ted Raimi plays three roles in the film: Bruce’s agent, an Italian painter whose job it is to alter the population sign every time somebody dies (including his own death!), and Wing, the last surviving descendent of those who died in the mine. For the most part Ted is great in the movie except for Wing, which is just straight up offensive, harking back to Mickey Rooney’s Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
This isn’t a great film by any stretch of the imagination. The acting is pretty bad, the story is ridiculous and the monster is obnoxious and so bad it would make Roger Corman proud. But, if you’re a Campbell fan, then the movie is laugh out loud funny. It’s pretty much one big in-joke that fans will love and will leave others just scratching their heads in bafflement.
Right now Bruce is finish up a 22 city tour with the film with one stop left in Los Angeles. I highly recommend seeing this film in the theater with like minded individuals to get the most enjoyment out of it. If you miss it in the theaters then I suggest rounding up as many Campbell fans that you can for private screenings because a lively crowd will most certainly make this film all the more enjoyable.
FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS): 
