The good news about Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is that it’s not half bad! It’s not half good either, and perhaps I’m feeling a sense of good willing towards it coming down off a high (a four day break from TIFF) – but when it works, it’s funny. When it doesn’t it is strangely like it’s title character, played by Nick Swardson, oddly enduring. Could it be better, more charming, funnier – even more realistic about the porn industry? Indeed: who shoots porn with a Panavision 35MM camera? Who is even really shooting films with a Panavision 35MM camera any longer – the porn industry, like VHS have adopted digital video production and distribution long before the mainstream industry had.
This aside, Bucky Larson is a buck-toothed Iowa man-child who is fired from the local supermarket. Down on his luck he escapes Yahtzee night with his parents played by Edward Herrmann and Miriam Flynn for movie night with his pals next door. They introduce him to the exciting new world of masturbation; unfortunately it’s to a vintage farm themed skin flick starring Mr. & Mrs. Larson. Bucky, convinced for some strange reason the film ought to unpack further (and for more laughs) decides to up and hop a bus, a few bucks in his pocket and Hanson on his portable CD player and head for LA.
The Happy Madison production is not without its charms in LA, including Christina Ricci who is far too good to be here as Kathy, the pretty waitress in a dive dinner with a phobia of carrying large orders on trays. Also good to know is still alive would be Kevin Nealon as Gary, Bucky’s sleazy businessman roommate, who is always on his cordless phone. Producer and co-writer Adam Sandler is clearly nostalgic for SNL of the 1990’s, so much so I wonder if Chris Farley was once meant to play Bucky Larson.
Swardson is the type of actor who pops up randomly as a supporting role, normally as someone with a creepy fetish or obsession: I’ve often enjoyed what he’s done without knowing who he was – but I learn he has an extensive resume working with the Happy Madison team including The Benchwarmers, Grandma’s Boy, and Just Go With It. If only the film was funnier, and paradoxically darker and more charming.
The most insightful fish-out-of-water tour through the pornography industry was British documentarian Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends series, where he heads to the San Fernando Valley and takes a role as a non-nude extra. Bucky Larson is considered a legacy and his videos we are told sell because he’s non-threatening for men, fulfilling the age old wish – an average, overweight, working class dude can get the hot girl, which sounds like the basis for many TV shows or films staring Kevin James.
A great, insightful comedy can be made about porn. This is not it. Yet, against my better judgment the film tries and has moments of success. Director Tom Brady (no relation to the NFL quarterback) has made some very stupid, insulting and unfunny comedies including The Hot Chick and The Animal, but Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is one that has a few pleasures. And just like a struggling actor or model who may have done that one adult movie to pay the rent, I may come to regret that.