The Film
If you believe the film reviews of Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, it was the worst film of 2011 - but first we should step back. Did anyone really expect it to be good? It was produced by Adam Sandler, whose own movies are very much hit or miss. Yet compared to highly anticipated films such as The Smurfs and Sucker Punch, this reviewer is going to go out on a limb and say Bucky is not in the running for worst of the year. It is bad, very bad in fact, but it isn't as bad as something that should have been - or even could have been better. This film "is what it is" as they say - nothing more, nothing less. The film, which tells the rags to riches story of a hayseed (Nick Swardson) from Iowa who - after finding out his parents were 1970's porn stars - decides that's the life for him. He gets on a bus and arrives in Hollywood.
But Dirk Diggler of Boogie Nights he is not. In fact Bucky's not only lacking in the requisite "equipment" but he also completes his scenes in record time - without so much as laying a finger or anything else on his co-stars. Of course this being a movie, he becomes a star anyway, gets the girl (Christina Ricci) - whose great ambition is to be a waitress - and not a lot else happens. And yet, despite being a really dumb movie this one has a few moments, notably from the costars such as Don Johnson as a washed up porn director and Kevin Nealon as Bucky's rageaholic roommate. While really stupid, at least you'd expect it to be really stupid so you should know what you're getting into.
The Picture
Even bad films can look good and Bucky looks really, really good. The film has impressive detail with skin tones looking quite natural, or unnatural in Bucky's case. The 1.85:1 1080p presentation is almost too good because some of the gross-out moments in this film don't deserve to look that... real.
The Sound
Bucky's strange accent (which is used as a not-so-funny running gag throughout) comes through clearly in this 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. While many films today tend to run very hot, and might have you reaching to lower the volume, this one has the opposite effect and needs to be turned up a bit - until some uneven music cues kick in. The result is far from the best soundtrack on a Blu-ray, but far from the worst as well.
The Extras
This Blu-ray package is loaded with bonus material, but to continue with the double entendre, it is shooting blanks. The special features are all the sort of things only the hardest core fans could ever find funny - and we doubt there are very many of those for this film. From the "Behind the Teeth" to the "Bucky Sparkles" each is worse than the one before. And on a side note, Sony threw in trailers for many films that have been on Blu-ray for months - such as 30 Minutes or Less and Attack the Block, suggesting that they just looked to fill this disc with as much useless junk as possible. The funniest thing actually was the red-band trailer for A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.
Final Thoughts
There are bad movies and movies so bad that they are good movies. Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star actually falls somewhere beyond that. If viewed as satire it does come off very funny in a few moments. The problem is that the movie would have been so much better if Bucky Larson weren't in it.
Product Details
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