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While this film has been out for awhile now, there’s no way a Bruce Campbell fan such as myself couldn’t review this for the site.  If you’re unfamiliar, My Name is Bruce is a tongue in cheek horror comedy where Bruce Campbell, actor, plays Bruce Campbell, actor, who is recruited to fight the ancient Chinese God of Bean Curd.

Yes, it sounds stupid. And to some degree, it is.  Thankfully, unlike the many low budget films it lampoons, the film is most often stupid on purpose, which makes the stupidity okay. Though honestly I would have preferred a more serious, darker take on the idea of the real life Bruce Campbell being recruited to fight a supernatural enemy.

Kills

A surprisingly high body count of at least twelve.  None of them will make you bump your britches, but that’s a respectable tally.

Ills

Guan Di, the Chinese demon/god is a big fan of chopping heads off.  He cut off at least six or seven through the course of the film and also slashed a throat and removed a hand.  None of this is very gross though, so it’s pretty tame throughout.

Lust

Sadly, there is nothing here, though the female love interest has boobs so big I’m surprised she can stand straight.

Learning

Everyone loved Bubba Ho-Tep

Review

From minute one you know this flick is putting the comedy cart before the horror horse with the Town Mayor and Sheriff playing a musical introduction the Guan Di demon.  Shortly thereafter a pair of characters trade barbs over Bruce Campbell’s films, both real and imagined, and you can’t help but realize that Bruce is taking a few shots at his own history, acknowledging he isn’t the star of Schindler’s List.

I don’t think I could recommend this to a non Bruce Campbell fan.  To anyone not familiar with the actor’s history, it would just come across as another cheesy horror flick.  For fans though, the film is filled to the brim with nods to Campbell’s extensive career and actors from Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, and Xena all show up.  There’s also a ton of cool merchandise on display and the original costume from Campbell’s excellent Western series Brisco County, Jr.

For Campbell fans, the film is a must see, but not perfect.  On the plus side of things are Campbell himself, obviously, though he’s playing the role like cheese covered ham, and Ted Raimi, who plays at least three different characters, most of which are racist stereotypes – hilarity.

On the downside, the film isn’t over flowing with great actors and it can be a bit stilted and overly cheesy at times.  Fans will most likely be able to overlook the flaws and just have fun with Bruce and giggle at the inside jokes.

As I mentioned above, I really would have loved to see this film skew a bit more serious and darker.  Imagine a monster or slasher movie with Bruce playing himself.  Sounds awesome.  But that’s not what we get here.  This is more like Abbot and Costello or the Stooges meet Guan Di.  Which, again, makes sense though, considering Campbell’s well known love for the Stooges.

In the end, this is a funny flick for Campbell fans that could have been better and that isn’t one that will likely attract non-Campbellites to his fandom.  Still, what kind of fan would I be if I gave it any less than a

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