My Grade: D
After not going to the movies in a while, I finally find the time to go and I end up sitting through Bucky Larson. Something is wrong with me. The trailers looked bad, the reviews were bad, and Happy Madison hasn’t made much worth seeing in the last few years (Grown Ups?... come on). But I enjoyed Happy Madison’s last foray into rated R territory (Grandma’s Boy) and I like Nick Swardson so I gave it a shot. That was a mistake. There is not even a shred of substance here and the laughs are intermittent at best.
The story follows a pretty standard model for the raunchy, semi-romantic comedy, but something doesn’t feel right. There is a clear three act structure, but the pacing is way off. The story meanders on things that are supposed to be funny which throws the flow of the story off. And, when it does continue in the story, it is so far fetched that no one can believe it. Let me give just one of the many examples. When Bucky (Swardson) meets Kathy (Christina Ricci), she is immediately drawn to him. We realize that it is because he is kind-hearted and seems innocent, but she almost lets him stay at her house after knowing him for 15 minutes (not to mention the fact that he tells her he wants to be a porn star). This girl is out of her mind.
Kathy may be out of her mind to bring Bucky into her life so quickly without a worry in the world, but she is played surprisingly well by the beautiful Christina Ricci. Her performance is one of the three moderately redeeming qualities of this film. Even Swardson’s good natured Bucky Larson is brutal to watch. His accent slips in and out, his character goes from awkwardly creepy to charmingly suave and back again a number of times, and he doesn’t have any depth. His only attribute is that he is innocently naive. Beyond that, we know virtually nothing about him other than that his parents were porn starts and he believes in a vague idea of destiny. And don’t even get me started on Bucky’s roommate, Gary (Kevin Nealon), who serves literally no purpose in the movie except to show up randomly and spout profanity at Bucky. I guess it is supposed to be funny?
I mentioned earlier that there are three moderately redeeming things in the film with Ricci’s performance being one. The second thing is one scene when Bucky first heads to LA. He goes to an audition (no spoiler there, you could guess that by watching half the trailer) and all hell breaks loose. I don’t want to ruin what happens in this scene because it is the only genuinely funny part of the entire film. My friend and I (the only two in the theater... imagine that) laughed so hard we literally about fell out of our seats. And I always thought “fall out of your seat laughing” was just a figure of speech. the other decent moment is the sweet ending that you see coming from a mile away. Despite its predictability, the message you get at the end and the sweet moment brings a smile to your face.
So let me describe your journey as you watch this film so that you can save yourself the ten bucks. You start off excited because you see Happy Madison Productions and you know Nick Swardson is in it. As early as the first scene you will start questioning your decision to pay money to see this film. As you grimace and try to bear the boredom, you finally see a light shine through and almost die laughing for a minute or so until the boredom sets back in. Then Christina Ricci enters the picture and you find something almost worth sitting through. But it drags on and on until you are ready to walk out. But you’ve come this far so you might as well stay. The problems are finally resolved and you actually smile for the second or third time in the grueling 97 minutes. You may even clap as the credits start to roll because it is finally over.
If that sounds harsh, go see it and come see me afterward so I can tell you “I told you so.”
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