Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Tom Brady, produced by Happy Madison Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Adam Sandler, Allen Covert, and Nick Swardson (who plays Bucky Larson) co-wrote the script.

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Brady
Produced byAdam Sandler
Jack Giarraputo
Allen Covert
Nick Swardson
David Dorfman
Written byAdam Sandler
Allen Covert
Nick Swardson
StarringNick Swardson
Christina Ricci
Stephen Dorff
Don Johnson
Music byWaddy Wachtel
CinematographyMichael Barrett
Edited byJason Gourson
Production
company
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • September 9, 2011 (2011-09-09)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9 million[1]
Box office$2.5 million[2]

It was released on September 9, 2011, and became a box office bomb, in addition to universally negative reviews by film critics, earning a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many critics considered it one of the worst films of all time. It was runner up for six Razzies, including for Worst Picture, but lost to the film Jack and Jill, another film from Happy Madison Productions (which swept that year's Razzies).

Plot

Bucky Larson, a small-town manchild with big buck-teeth, stumbles upon a family secret: His quiet and reserved parents were famous porn stars in the 1970s. This motivates him to leave northern Iowa for Hollywood, hoping to follow in their footsteps and fulfill his destiny as the biggest adult-film star in the world. Unfortunately, he has no idea how to become a porn star like his parents, and his penis is incredibly small.

Through a series of misunderstandings, he gets a job as a porn actor with fading director Miles Deep. He makes several films, and achieves a certain fame when his small penis makes women appreciate their partner's endowment. Along the way he meets and falls in love with Kathy, a kindhearted waitress. Bucky chooses Kathy over fame, but she rejects him without explanation, leaving him brokenhearted. During a film shoot, Miles confesses that he had told Kathy to leave Bucky so he could have his prize star all to himself. Bucky forgives Miles and goes after Kathy, who is on a horrible date with another porn star, the well-endowed but narcissistic Dick Shadow. Bucky declares his love, and the two get married. After one year, Bucky opens his own famous steakhouse. One night, his former roommate comes into the restaurant and yells at him for owing him rent money, and tells Bucky he is "just like John Mayer".

Cast

Reception

Critical response

Initially not pre-screened for critics,[3] the film was panned by critics on its opening weekend. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rare approval rating of 0% – meaning no positive reviews whatsoever out of 35 reviews – with an average rating of 1.59/10. The site's critics consensus called it a "severely misguided and inept comedy incapable of even telling its single joke properly".[4] On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 9/100 meaning "overwhelming dislike", based on reviews from 13 critics,[5] making it the worst-reviewed wide release of 2011.[6] It was also given the Moldy Tomato award for the worst-reviewed film of 2011 by Rotten Tomatoes.[7]

Orlando Sentinel critic Roger Moore stated "the concept, and the movie that comes from it aren't funny. And second, Swardson wasn't any more born to be a star than his character".[8] New York Times critic A.O. Scott stated in his review that Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star was so bad that it "may have been made ... to console every actor who has ever been in a movie that is a little less bad than this one. Let me put the matter another way: this may be the worst movie Pauly Shore has ever been in. Think about that. If you dare, go on Netflix and test the hypothesis."[9] Critic Nathan Rabin gave the film a D−[10] in his initial review, then noted that "Bucky Larson was panned so viciously that my D− ranked on the generous side of critical appraisals" when revisiting the film a second time for his My Year of Flops column, where he cited it as an example of a "shitty miracle, [a film where] everything goes awry. It's not a matter of one sorry element dragging the rest down; it's every terrible component amplifying the awfulness of everything else", later calling it "one of the ugliest, most misguided comedies in recent memory."[11]

Accolades

The film earned six nominations at the 32nd Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Nick Swardson), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Ensemble, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel (rip-off of Boogie Nights and A Star Is Born). It lost in all six categories to Jack and Jill, another poorly received film in which Adam Sandler and Nick Swardson had involvement.[12]

Box office

Bucky Larson was a box office flop, earning only $1.4 million to land at #15 for its opening weekend, thus making Bucky Larson the least successful Happy Madison film to date, both critically and commercially. After two weeks of release, the film had earned a total of $2.5 million, after which it was pulled from theatres.[13]

The film's budget was $9 million.[1]

Response from Swardson

Swardson defended Bucky Larson in an October 2011 interview, in which he blamed its poor financial showing on the difficulties of advertising the material: "To promote an R-rated movie, with commercials, with this character, it was just really, really hard. It was hard to get the movie across to people. The trailer in theaters was really tame because we couldn't show any of the insanity, and even if we did it, it wouldn't hit because it had no context. It was just really frustrating." He predicted the film would find more appreciation on DVD.[14]

Swardson dismissed the negative reviews. "I knew the critics were going to bury us because of the acting, how it was written and directed ... None of those reviewers was psyched to see Bucky Larson and laugh. They go in with the mentality 'fuck these guys for making another movie.' They go in there to kind of headhunt. It makes me laugh because it's just so embarrassing. It makes them look like such morons."[14]

References
  1. Kaufman, Amy (September 8, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Contagion' will prove deadly for 'The Help'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  2. Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star at Box Office Mojo
  3. "No-show alert: 'Bucky Larson' - San Antonio Express-News". Mysanantonio.com. 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  4. "Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. September 10, 2011. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  5. "Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011)". Metacritic. September 10, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  6. Dietz, Jason (January 5, 2012). "The Best and Worst Movies of 2011". metacritic.com. Metacritic. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
  7. "Golden Tomatoes Awards 2011". Rotten Tomatoes. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  8. "Movie Review: Bucky Larson, Born to be a Star". Archived from the original on September 25, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  9. Scott, A. O. (September 9, 2011). "Making the Most of the Very Least, and Other Lessons". The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  10. Rabin, Nathan (2011-09-09). "Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star | Film | Movie Review". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  11. Rabin, Nathan (2011-09-28). "Miraculous Case File #198: Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star | Film | My Year Of Flops". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  12. "RAZZIES Nominations". Razzies.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  13. "Weekend Box Office Results for September 9–11, 2011". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  14. Kiefer, Halle. "Nick Swardson On Bucky Larson, Pretend Time and the Critics." Archived 2011-10-07 at the Wayback Machine Splitsider, 3 October 2011.
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