Movie Info
Movie Name: My Name Is Bruce
Studio: Image Entertainment
Genre(s): Horror/Comedy/B-Movie
Release Date(s): October 26, 2008
MPAA Rating: R
So…May I remind you that I’m Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell is a legend in his own mind and herald by the fanboys who worship him. With his string of bad movies getting even worse and an ex-wife who wants nothing to do with him, Bruce finds he’s at the end of rope. When a group of kids in Goldlick accidentally awaken a Chinese spirit out to avenge dead Chinese miners, Jeff (Taylor Sharpe) decides to get his hero Bruce Campbell to save the town. While Bruce thinks he’s part of an elaborate gag, Guan-Di’s power is growing and Bruce’s interest in Jeff’s mother Kelly (Grace Thorsen) might override his desire to just help himself.
Directed by Bruce Campbell, My Name Is Bruce plays with the idea of a B-Movie actor’s fame and the fandom that surrounds him. The movie received mixed reviews, but the movie has gained a small cult following.
Groovy? I think not!
The cult following for the film is no shock since Bruce Campbell has a cult following himself. His over-acting and dramatic posing is what made him famous and what he plays with in this film. Yes, he’s been in some good to ok movies, but he’s also been in countless stinkers (which he managed to improve minimally). Half the movies listed in the movie are fakes and half are the real deal.
Despite a clever idea and an obvious low budget style, My Name Is Bruce works against itself. It is so overly cheap and overly acted that it goes past being a joke back to being bad. Portions involving Bruce Campbell’s personal life fall flat and the actors in the town are so poor that it feels like everyone is reading their lines off of cue cards. There are plenty of clever nods to the Evil Dead franchise that will make it worth it to fans.
So…am I supposed to be afraid of you?
Like Bubba Ho-Tep, I wish they had put a little more effort into making a creepy creature instead of the weak Guan-Di. If Bruce was fighting lame aliens in Cave Alien II, Guan-Di should have been truly horrific. Instead, he’s just as poorly constructed as the cave aliens. One or the other should have been a FX spectacular to sell the joke even better.
My Name Is Bruce could have been so much better than it was with a little tweaking, better writing, and a little more money thrown into it. It appears to be made by the fanboys who worship Bruce instead of a smarter script that could have been truly meta. If you are a fan, check it out, but if not, it probably isn’t worth your time.
