Am I Still a Fan of Bruce Campbell?

“My Name is Bruce” opens at the Nuart in late-December. The trailer is stunningly — absolutely stunningly — god-awful. I’ve seen it upwards of a dozen times now, and it’s about as painful to watch as the preview for “Bride Wars.” The film casts Bruce Campbell as himself and pits him against a real-life B-movie monster in a backwater Oregon town. It’s winking and meta and all that business. It’s also redundant. Bruce Campbell essentially plays himself in every movie, the one recent exception being “Bubba Ho-Tep,” in which Campbell played a bed-ridden Elvis in a nursing home who takes on a mummy.

“Bubba Ho-Tep” sucks, by the way. It’s boring and simply coasts on its concept, like it’s the most ingenious thing in the universe when it’s not.

At any rate, I’d like to think of myself as a fan of Bruce Campbell. I’ve seen “Army of Darkness” more times than any human being probably should. I’ve read his autobiography “If Chins Could Kill” twice. I’ve even been insulted by the man himself — at a screening of “Bubba Ho-Tep,” no less — because of my geekdom; I consider that to be the ultimate autograph. Nonetheless, I still think “My Name is Bruce” looks like a pile.

And they’re now making a sequel.

CHUD.com reports that the positive buzz on “My Name is Bruce” has convinced producers to put a follow-up on the fast-track. Really? The movie’s L.A. premiere is more than a month away, and it’ll be playing on exactly one screen. Yet they’re already developing a sequel. I guess I wouldn’t mind so much if the movie didn’t look like the typical DTV fodder I never, ever rent.

Campbell’s only as good as his material, and when he’s working with Sam Raimi, he’s a golden god. It’s unfortunate that he hasn’t crossed over to the mainstream like Raimi. I think most people recognize him as the guy in the Old Spice TV spots. Why his oeuvre has turned off casting directors is anyone’s guess. But movies that look as crummy as “My Name is Bruce” certainly won’t catapult him to the A-list, nor reignite my waning fandom.

-Brad Lohan

If you like this post, share it!