My name is Bruce? More like my name is Awesome!
Sorry, had to get my geek moment out before going on to the actual review.
Chances are if youre reading this youre either one of the five people I e-mail my posts to or a Bruce Campbell fan. Either way youre going to love this movie because it was made with you—and only you—in mind. Its one of those strange films that you love for its flaws not despite them and because Bruce Campbell has a singular talent for creating a character who should be completely unlikeable somehow charming, sympathetic, and outrageously funny.
The plots fairly straightforward. Jeff is a mega Bruce Campbell fan. He owns all of his action figures, posters, his costume from Briscoe County Jr.. Even his car is the same make, year, and model as the one Campbell drove in the first two Evil Dead movies. We learn this pretty quickly as Jeff gets into an argument with his idiot friend over the merit of Bruce Campbells movies (“Army of Darkness was kinda good, but the rest sucked) as theyre driving to an old Chinese cemetery where they hope to hook up with a couple of Goth girls who, I might add, immediately begin trashing the place. During this mayhem of broken wood grave markers and awkward teenage pickup lines, Jeff inadvertently removes a medallion from the boarded up entrance of an abandoned mine where hundreds of Chinese workers were killed in a cave in. It turns out that the medallion is the sigil of Guan-di, the Chinese God of War who had been invoked to protect the souls of the dead miners. Guan-di immediately goes on a killing rampage with a naganata, and Jeff decides that the only way to combat the vengeful God is to kidnap his hero, Bruce Campbell, so he can lead the townsfolk in battle.
Really, how could you NOT watch a movie with a plot like that? Well, pretty easily actually unless youre a Bruce Campbell fan. As much as I enjoyed this movie, I have no illusions as to its quality. Its one of those movies that intentionally sets out to be bad, and because of that its appeal is quite limited. The humor comes from the cartoonish caricature of himself that Bruce Campbell had created. In the movie hes a bad actor, a worse friend, and an even worse ex-husband. He carries himself with a completely unjustified air of confidence and superiority, and it takes a seven-foot-tall God of War to break through that illusion.
It takes a rare kind of actor—a rare kind of person, I should say—who can make fun of himself like that. It speaks to a strength of character and sense of identity on Campbells part that he can make an entire movie whose whole point is to make him look like a completely self-absorbed fool.
I would be remiss, though, if I didnt mention that Ted Raimi plays several parts in this movie to various degrees. Along with playing Bruces agent, Raimi unfortunately also acts in two other roles which honestly seem to come out of nowhere and are so broadly stereotypical that they arent funny. In one role he plays the unnamed sign painter, who looks and talks like Mario from Super Mario Brothers, but the worst is that he plays the only Chinese character in the movie (not counting Guan-di, that is), and his performance is just as teeth-achingly stereotypical as Mickey Rooneys Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffanys.
I realize that this movie set out to be bad, but those two characters were just not funny and beneath Raimis talent. I may be being overly-sensitive here, but those characters seem totally irrelevant to the plot and just plain insulting. And I could go on for another page or so about my problems with Guan-di, but I wont because overall I think its almost beside the point.
Honestly, the people who already knew about My Name is Bruce probably decided a long time ago whether they would buy it or not. This is a niche movie, and it should be taken into consideration when reading this review that I happen to be a member of that niche. If anything in my review makes you pause or reconsider on buying the DVD outright Id advise to go with that feeling and rent it before deciding. However, if youre a huge Bruce Campbell fan who actually owns a copy of Maniac Cop, then I say go for it and enjoy.
The movie was shown in 1.78:1 aspect ratio with the soundtracks available in two options: Dolby Digital 5.1 surround or 2.0 surround. The movie looks and feels like a high-end TV movie. It looks and sounds just fine, but its not trying to be impressive.
Feature Commentary with Director/Producer/Actor Bruce Campbell and Producer Mike Richardson – Typically I dont care much for commentary tracks, but there were some truly funny moments here that make it worth checking out.
Heart of Dorkness (59:56) – As the name suggests, this is a making-of documentary styled after the movie Apocalypse Now. It has some fun moments like the editors cutting out large chunks of Bruce Campbell summarizing the plot and replacing them with fun little inserts apologizing for Bruces long-windedness.
Awkward Moments with “Kif” (1:58) – This is the first a series of mini featurettes about Kif. It was rather boring and I recommend skipping it.
Bruce On (4:08) – Fun little moments of Bruce Campbell musing philosophically on life, the universe, and mountain lions.
Cavealien 2 Trailer (1:44) – A mock trailer for the movie that Bruce Campbell was filming when Jeff kidnapped him.
Beyond Inside the Cave: The Making of Cavealien 2 (8:04) – This is one of my favorite extras on this DVD. Obviously its a mock making-of documentary and it plays off of the Bruce Campbell persona created for this movie.
“Kif’s” Korner (2:46) – More Kif stuff. Pass.
Poster Art Gallery – A gallery of fake posters for the various awful movies Bruce Campbell supposedly starred in, like “Chinbillies.”
Props Art Gallery
Photo Gallery
The Hard Truth (3:54) – An Access Hollywood-type documentary about the failed career of Bruce Campbell.
Love Birds (1:09) – All about the two gay gun shop owners.
My Name is Bruce Trailer (2:19)
Overall I find it a strange phenomenon when people try to create a bad movie. Honestly I find it rather impressive when they pull it off as they do in My Name is Bruce, because there is a fine line between funny-bad and plain bad. Most of the time My Name is Bruce manages to be funny-bad; enough that Im sure Ill watch it again sometime or another. Recommended, but only for Campbell fans.
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Dark Horse Indie presents My Name is Bruce. Directed by Bruce Campbell. Starring Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorsen, Taylor Sharpe, and Ted Raimi. Written by Mark Verheiden. Running time: 84 minutes. Rated R. Released on DVD: February 13, 2009. Available at Amazon.
