My Name is Bruce (2007)

Having only ever watched the screener of "My Name Is Bruce", the comedy-horror starring Bruce Campbell as himself, all I really have to say is, no matter how big of a Bruce Campbell fan you are, you probably aren't going to like it. I have no idea if the official DVD is any better.

For those who don't know, the plot basically consists of Bruce playing a not exactly true to life version of himself and taking on a murderous Chinese god of bean-curd called Guan-Di who was accidentally unleashed by a teenage Bruce Campbell fan. It's hardly up to the standard of "Army of Darkness". For those expecting anything similar to "The Evil Dead", you'd better think again. This movie is total crap from beginning to end with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

It's very cheaply done, lines are delivered with no apparent comedic timing (just look at the "I can speak...what's the word... English" one in the trailer), and the gore scenes are substandard even for the worst independents out there. The monster, Guan-Di, is the most ludicrous thing I've seen outside of the CGI pinata in "Survival Island"!

I really don't know why Bruce Campbell went ahead with this project since it's bound to be panned by everybody except his most extreme fanboys, and even then, anybody who praises anything in "My Name is Bruce" is just likely to lose all credibility in front of their peers. If this is supposed to be an example of bad filmmaking just to be funny then it has failed since it's not funny and is just bad.

I suppose it could be defended by saying that it's all in fun and is a great big parody of one of Hollywood's most famous B movie actors as seen by himself, but if this is an example of Bruce Campbell's directorial skills then he'd be better off just sticking to cameo roles in "Spider-man". I'm sure he'll get them too since he let Sam Raimi's weird-looking brother Ted appear in at least half a dozen roles in this film.

I hated it. Like most of you reading this, I loved Bruce Campbell in "The Evil Dead" and "Evil Dead 2", wasn't so convinced by "Army of Darkness", and watched his numerous TV appearances with a mixture of delight and horror as he went from good roles like Autolycus in "Xena: Warrior Princess" to absolutely atrocious parts such as "Jack of All Trades". This was certainly nowhere near the quality of "Bubba Ho-Tep".

I was really looking forward to seeing "My Name Is Bruce", but it turned out to be one of the most disappointing things that I've ever had the misfortune to watch.