#29
Post
by Svevan » Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:56 am
I got to see an incomplete preview of this film at the Ashland Independent Film Festival (located in Southern Oregon) as part of their "mini BruceFest." It was playing in the Ashland Armory, a nice big auditorium style building that seats 400-500 on folding chairs. The house was packed because the movie was shot all around Southern Oregon with a mostly local cast and crew (I know two of the minor actors, even). Campbell introduced the movie and said "This is a local film" which drew a huge response from the crowd. Campbell was as witty, sarcastic, and obnoxious as always, putting down the audience as harshly as he could whenever they asked him a question of any kind. He certainly thinks he has a persona to maintain, but I appreciate the shtick so long as he doesn't treat his film crew (or any person in regular conversation) like that.
The film itself was incomplete only insofar as it was missing some special effects, used a temp music track, and was missing some dialogue and sound effects. The cut seemed sharp and complete, and Campbell didn't mention anything about it being a "rough" cut or anything. This was a sneak preview for the local crowd.
The film begins with a blatant scene where two goth kids argue about the value of Bruce Campbell's cinema (specific movies mentioned, including Man with the Screaming Brain), then go attempt to get laid in a cemetery - they accidentally awaken a Chinese God who kills them in humorous ways. Then we get to see Bruce Campbell in "Cave Alien 2," a sequel to a previous (fake) Bruce Campbell film that looks terrible. Campbell really hams up how bad the movie is, but also begins to create a version of himself that is unlikable, unliked, rude to everyone, and a drunk. The first twenty minutes are devoted to how bad Bruce's life is, but also how terrible Bruce is. Even Campbell can't seem to separate his onscreen persona with his actual self.
The plot gets predictable when Bruce is enlisted to save a small (Oregon-esque) town from the Chinese God. The subsequent gags are overused cliches, but part of the movie seems to be acknowledging that everything is a cliche. Combined with the constant movie references (Bruce Campbell films and others), the film is more about movies, movie-watching, and living movies out than anything else. Everyone in the film fulfills a movie cliche (including Campbell's own cliche of himself), making the movie, in a way, critical of itself.
The film has insensitive humor about homosexuals and the Chinese, something I tried to ask Campbell about during the Q&A (the theatre was filled with fanboys who asked dumb questions about Spiderman 3) but didn't get to. Although I think Bruce (the character)'s racism is a great part of the film (he refers to the Chinese God as Top Ramen, Wanton Wanton, and Toshiro McFuckhead), one character in particular is a racist caricature of a Chinese person that elicits laughs it doesn't deserve. Not funny at all are the homosexual hillbillies who are apparently keeping a great secret from the rest of the town (the audience alone is told that they are gay, making the very fact that they are gay into the entire punchline).
The movie is very much about Bruce, deconstructing his persona, or just putting it on screen to admit that its fake. It's a bit of an ego project, but it's fun too. Campbell's sense of humor is on most of the time, though it veers towards slapstick too much. Luckily he has a fine sense of film history and is able to reference pretty much anything he wants since the movie is about movies. I particularly like when he calls a hooker in a nurse's outfit "Nurse Ratched."
It was a fun night! Bruce was hilarious, making sure that everyone felt like a jerk for even liking him, which endears him all the more. When asked what the chances were that the film would ever make it to theatres, he responded "Low."
Also, Ted Raimi plays three roles.
edit: It was projected digitally from a DVD, in case anyone cared.
