Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star

Wrong-footed at every step, Nick Swardson's star vehicle is an uncomfortable, unfunny tonal mess. In attempting to juxtapose idiot level naivety and ugly, crass, bawdy humour, the culprits responsible for Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star have created a massive misfire nearly as horrible as the reputation it has built as one of 2011's worst reviewed films. Brought to you by the low standards of Happy Madison productions and a feeble idea Adam Sandler farted out, Bucky Larson is the story of a sexually clueless kid from the Midwest who, during an awkward lesson in masturbation from his buddies, discovers his apple-pie parents were porn stars in the '70s and decides it's his destiny to follow in their ass prints. An unlikely porn star not just for his complete lack of experience or knowledge of basic sexual functions, Bucky has teeth to match his name and a penis size to match the amount of thought that went into the film's script. The lazy result is a three-joke movie content to cycle through applicable terminology like a smut-thesaurus. Bucky's uncanny luck puts him in direct contact with a sweet-natured waitress (somebody please stage an intervention with Christina Ricci's agent if she keeps getting roles this poor), who's equally understanding of his sheltered worldview and aspirations to jizz like a howler monkey on screen for money. That same movie logic takes him on a path to fame based on the desire of the masses to inflate their egos over to the novel quirks and shortcomings of others. As stupid and obnoxious as the bulk of the picture is, there are admittedly a couple random laughs, thanks to a few arbitrary oddities and Kevin Nealon's performance as Bucky's first-rate bastard of a roommate. That Nealon is operating on a different level of comedy than Swardson's broad, though committed, mugging seems apparent to the makers – the special features are heavily weighted towards Nealon. In addition to the bloopers and alternate takes of "Laughter is Contagious" and his unwavering deadpan in an otherwise typical behind-the-scenes feature, there's a whole feature on his marginal character, Gary. And, as an ugly little squirt to glaze this turkey, "Bucky Sparkles" revisits the many uncomfortable "O" faces of Bucky in action and gives a clearer look at his merkin than any sane person would ever want. If only a memory bleaching was included.