MY NAME IS BRUCE

Deconstructing the cult of celebrity…or how to laugh the Bruce Campbell way.

Having worked the festival and convention circuit over the years you get to see a lot of bizarre and amusing moments (for example sitting hungover in a festival bar with Robert 'Freddy' Englund, as he rattles ninety to the dozen about the jazz scene, listening to two excitable and unaware horror fans with their backs to us discussing how their hero Freddy was appearing there that weekend, you can guess what happens next) but one thing that is constant is the bewildering cult of the celebrity obsessed fan community. To be truthful, for myself anyway, a bizarre obsession for many that seems to be the offshoot of the 'collector' obsessive (you know, we've all been guilty, collecting and hording movies/books/comics etc that we know realistically we'd never have time on our short lives to watch/read more than the once); the need for film fans to meet their celebrity idols and more confusingly get their signature on a photograph or a bit of paper (hey come on now folks, the only signature I like to see is the one on a cheque made out to my name!)

Now before a large chunk of the genre community start heckling me I would simply note that this train of thought is not restricted to the fan community as in honesty the so called 'celebrity' themselves is as much to blame for feeding and creating the interest in the first place (take the aforementioned Englund who, fast forward a couple of years on from the previous meeting, where I find him sitting at a table at a 'collectors convention' embarrassingly yelping Freddy 'call back later' messages into a shell suited chav's mobile phone for a few crumpled pounds). This is the cult of celebrity. The truth of the scenario is, and apologies for any trauma this may cause, the 'celebrity' are simply jobbing actors who when they either a) are out of work, sorry in-between jobs or b) on the road with something to promote inevitably have to meet with 'their public', the great unwashed (that's you and me folks!) Sure some will say they love nothing better than meeting their fans (and yes there will always be an element of egos being fed) but essentially it's an exercise of generating income by touching some flesh and allowing the fan a minute of the dream (paying to meet your idol for a signature or photo will not make them your new 'special friend', nor will they remember you from that special moment…of course some may say they will, as long as your paying of course).

Cue Bruce Campbell. Fans of Bruce's work, myself included in that number, will be all too aware that over the years he has been victim to the cult of celebrity with deeply obsessive fans wanting a piece of the action in terms of meeting their B movie idol (the fact that his recent appearance in Edinburgh for a screening of MY NAME IS BRUCE selling out in under 15 minutes is testament alone to his pulling power) - so much so that he himself tried to tackle the issue in his highly recommended documentary film 'Fanalysis' in which he both takes a light hearted look at the fan obsessive and tactfully address the balance of interaction between the fan and 'the talent'. Clearly though this approach has not dampened the understandably excitable enthusiasm of the Campbell fan community as now we have another tactical approach by way of pure 'in your face' entertainment in his latest self directed low budget opus 'My Name Is Bruce'.

'My Name Is Bruce' sees Bruce play, well, Bruce Campbell - an arrogant self obsessed drunk wiener who gets by playing square jawed cartoon pastiches of himself in no budget epics such as 'Cavealien 2'. Whilst this set piece alone would have made for a highly amusing 90 minutes of self-loathing and celebrity deconstruction the film does in fact develop a plot. Small town stereotype Bruce obsessive fan Jeff Graham kidnaps our hapless hero, sticks him in the back of his car and takes him back home to face off with a demonic presence that has appeared in town as he misguidedly believes that his onscreen idol will be able to heroically launch into chainsaw welding action and save the day - the truth though being that being a simple jobbing actor Bruce has no interest in facing off with any demons apart from the ones contained inside poor Jeff's moms pants.

Now before anyone gets upset thinking "oh my gawd, has Bruce lost the plot and made a self loathing personal dramatic expose of his sordid life" (no this isn't the cinematic equivalent of Bruce standing up to come out at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting), be assured that MY NAME IS BRUCE is played strictly for laughs. From the early scenes of disgruntled runners pissing into his drink to the numerous winks to the fan community of 'in' joke references to Bruce's often questionable career (but hey, he is simply a jobbing actor folks), it's clear that Bruce himself is more than happy to have a laugh or fifty at his own expense (along with numerous fan pleasing Evil Dead co-star cameos including long time Campbell stalwart Ted Raimi who appears here in not one but three roles; though as Campbell gleefully points out only gets one pay cheque). Whether or not that's to over compensate the wry digs at the fan community itself though is another matter altogether (though undeniably the cracks made at the fan community are downright hysterical and as Bruce himself is very open about at Q&A sessions at the films screenings is very much based on real fans actions!)

Inevitably, as is always the case in any good Campbell romp, he is swayed into good guy mode and faces off with the resident demon in a finale that takes the movie from hysterical self depreciating comedy to Disney-esque schmaltz but thankfully the balance of the films love and self loathing for the great man himself (along with the sly digs at his fan community) makes this a must see film experience for fans of Bruce's work. By no means the next Bubba Ho Tep as this is more Man With The Screaming Brain terrain, albeit with a more coherent script with better execution (think top of the range Sci-Fi Channel TV movie and you'll be nearer the spot).

What makes this release more essential for fans though is the lovely package put together by Anchor Bay with a jam-packed special features ladened DVD and Blu-Ray release. Highlight of any Bruce Campbell release is always the audio commentary and here he yet again doesn't disappoint. Anyone who has attended any of Bruce's Q&A sessions or listened to his other audio commentaries will be very aware that the man is the quintessential entertainer when it comes to telling a tale or twenty. A charming and amusing storyteller that in his delivery makes it easily understandable why he has such an obsessive large fan community. Amongst the many names of his fan base is one seemingly tagged the Army of Dorkness which lends its name to the documentary feature HEART OF DORKNESS that is included in the special features of this release but rather than another 'Fanalysis' style overview of the fan base this is a delightful extended behind the scenes look at the MY NAME IS BRUCE's production from concept stage right through to the final day of shooting; a refreshingly candid look at the ups and downs of low budget filmmaking (it's amazing how many people will work for next to nothing and suffer all sorts of misery just to be part of the dream) that for myself begs the question as to just why anyone would ever wish to get involved in the film production industry?! What makes HEART OF DORKNESS particularly entertaining is that isn't one of those glossy Entertainment Now features typical of DVD extras behind the scenes features, this is pure in your face filmmaking grime (hell you can even taste the sand and dirt that the crew suffer throughout the films shoot on Campbell's home made back film lot set).

Other highlights include countless short snippet featurettes based around the films cast and production teams (see what a producer's role seemingly 'really' involves and watch in heart warming joy as two of Campbell's long time pals from previous Evil Dead features consummate their love for each other). Add to that some highly entertaining additional features around the film within a film element of CAVEALIEN 2 (which amusingly even gets its own 'making of' feature) and not forgetting the large number of easily found easter egg featurettes (incidentally it should be pointed out that both the Blu-Ray and DVD editions of this release contain all the easter eggs and extra features contrary to pre-release rumours) making this package of MY NAME IS BRUCE a no-brainer on the purchasing front for fans of Campbell's work…but then I doubt that was ever up for discussion (and those same fans no matter what will still queue patiently for hours to meet their idol in the hope of meeting him for brief seconds and get their copies of MY NAME IS BRUCE signed…the cult of celebrity continues…)

MY NAME IS BRUCE is entertaining no budget fun which lifts itself high above the reams of similar B movie fodder on the power of its star/director and a cracking package from Anchor Bay. As the great man himself would say…"nice".

Review by Alan Simpson