Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (Rated R)

Starring Nick Swardson, Christina Ricci, Don Johnson, Stephen Dorff

Directed by Tom Brady

Plot: After discovering his parents were porn stars in the 1970's, an young man from Iowa heads to California to become a star.

It should in no way be considered an endorsement of this film when I say it was better than I expected.  This movie is a one-note joke (well, maybe two as Bucky has big teeth and small genetalia), full of tired cliches and failed attempts at humor.  However, I was expecting worse, so kudos for the House of Sandler (Happy Madison Productions) for exceeding the level of bombastic eye torture I was expecting.

Through the first thirty minutes, this is what I felt like:

Especially when having to watch Edward Herrmann and Miriam Flynn in a porn film.


In the beginning of the movie,  Bucky (Swardson with teeth that a beaver would envy) loses his job.  When his friends try to cheer him up with a "nude movie," they discover that Bucky's parents were porn celebrities years ago.  Now Bucky knows his destiny and heads to Los Angeles.

In L.A., he meets a waitress named Kathy in a diner played by Christina Ricci.  She has a dream, too.  She wants to be a waitress in a nice restaurant, but since a tragic accident with a soup tray, she's been unable to work anywhere with trays.  (Yes, it's as lame as it sounds).

Bucky starts to make some inroads into the porn industry when a director down on his luck (Don Johnson) puts him in a movie.  Turns out the only way Bucky is endowed is with his teeth, but the director discovers people love Bucky in porn because the guys don't feel threatened and the girls suddenly think their boyfriends have more to offer.

The script and directing for Bucky Larson starts at the bottom and then has no where to go, so it's sits there and stews in its own filth.  The only redeeming aspects of the movie are the charming performance by Ricci and the funny portrayal by Johnson as a past-his-prime director trying to catch a break.

I have no idea how anyone involved in the movie thought any of this was funny.  Maybe it looked better on paper?  Swardson proves he's definitely better as a sidekick than the main attraction.  While I thought he was really funny in 30 Minutes or Less, here he just grated on me with his awful accent that was supposedly from Iowa but was a Fargo reject.

You could pretty much pick any other movie playing at the multiplex and have a better experience (with the possible exception of Apollo 18).

Did I mention this was better than I was expecting?

*****
Dad Suitability - Your children will lose all respect for you.
Kid Suitability - Unless you want to answer some very hard questions, this is not for them.