Review of My Name Is Bruce (2007) by Peter S — 24 Jun 2009

"My Name is Bruce" is a rather good Bruce Campbell vehicle, with a premise similar to "Galaxy Quest": an actor is mistaken for his on screen persona(e) and gets recruited to save the world (or, given the cost of extras, the little town of Goldlick, 339 inhabitants, most of them off-screen.).

One good thing about this film, apart from its obvious main attraction (you know what I mean: Ted Raimi in three different roles), is that it was written by Mark Verheiden. As co-executive producer of and writer for "Battlestar Galactica", he had some experience writing stories about beleaguered communities with declining head counts, and it shows.

The film of course has strong language, a little gore (a few decapitations and assorted mutilations are what we call a little gore these days) and a love interest called Kilogram (or maybe that was just Kelly Graham and the film has lowered my sense of humour.).

One of the bad effects the film has had on me is that it has made me want to see the rest of Bruce Campbell's filmography (as if I didn't already), starting with "Assault on Dome 4". But since some of the films referenced here do not even exist, I think Bruce owes it to his fan to shoot them all, starting with Cavealien 1 to 4. It seems such a neat idea. Like "Alien", only in a cave, hence the title.

If you are a Bruce Campbell fan and wondering whether this film is for you, well, imagine you were a Trekkie and they had made "Galaxy Quest" with William Shatner and about one fiftieth the budget. That's how bad you want to see this film. And if that thought experiment is a little bit too much for your brain cells to handle, you're a Bruce Campbell fan, are you even asking yourself the question?

(By the way, I thought Bruce Le's name was Bruce, how come Bruce Campbell's name is Bruce too all of a sudden?).