Wikipedia

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Staris a 2011 Americanblack comedy filmdirected byTom Brady,written byAdam Sandler,Allen Covert,andNick Swardson,and produced by Sandler, Swardson, Covert,Jack Giarraputo,andDavid S. Dorfman.Starring Swardson,Christina Ricci,Edward Herrmann,Kevin Nealon,Don Johnson,andStephen Dorff,it tells the story of a man-child whose reserved parents were famousporn starsand plans to follow in their footsteps.

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Brady
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMichael Barrett
Edited byJason Gourson
Music byWaddy Wachtel
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures(throughSony Pictures Releasing)
Release date
  • September 9, 2011(2011-09-09)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million[1][2]
Box office$2.5 million[2]

Produced by Sandler'sHappy Madison Productionsin association with Miles Deep Productions,Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Starwas released on September 9, 2011, byColumbia Pictures.It became abox office bomb,in addition to being panned by film critics. It received sixRazzienominations, including forWorst Picture,but lost to the filmJack and Jill,another film from Happy Madison Productions (whichswept that year's Razzies).

Plot

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Bucky Larson, a small-town man-child with big buck teeth, works at a local grocery store, and still lives at home. One night while watching porn with his friends, he stumbles upon a family secret: his quiet and reserved parents were famousadult performersin the 1970s. This motivates him to leave northernIowaforHollywood,hoping to follow in their footsteps and fulfill his destiny as the biggest adult-film star in the world. However, he has no idea how to become a porn star like his parents, and his penis is incredibly small.

Once he reaches Los Angeles, he meets and falls in love with Kathy, a kindhearted waitress, who introduces him to Gary, the former roommate ofJohn Mayer.After moving with Gary, he pursues his job as a porn actor. Through a series of misadventures he ends up at anindustryparty, where he is humiliated by narcissistic porn star Dick Shadow. The next day, he meets fading porn director Miles Deep. They make a test film where Bucky prematurely ejaculates, and they consider the endeavor a failure. But after one of the crew uploads the video to YouTube, Bucky achieves popularity as his small penis makes women appreciate their partner's endowment and the men do not feel threatened.

After failing to secure an adult film contract for Bucky, Miles decides to produce films with him independently. They eventually achieve success with their videos, but Bucky chooses Kathy over fame. Before he can tell her how he feels, 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 Dick Shadow. Bucky declares his love for Kathy, and the two get married. After one year, Bucky opens his own steakhouse. One night, Gary comes into the restaurant and yells at him for owing him rent money, and tells Bucky he is "just like John Mayer".

Cast

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Reception

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Critical response

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Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Starwas not pre-screened for critics,[3]and was panned upon its release. OnRotten Tomatoes,the film has an approval rating of 3% based on reviews from 36 critics, with an average rating of 2.3/10. The site's critics consensus called it a "severely misguided and inept comedy incapable of even telling its single joke properly."[4]OnMetacritic,the film received a weighted average score of 9 out of 100, indicating "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]Audiences surveyed byCinemaScoregave the film a grade "B" on scale of A to F.[8]

Orlando Sentinelcritic 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".[9]New York TimescriticA.O. Scottstated in his review thatBucky Larson: Born to Be a Starwas 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 moviePauly Shorehas ever been in. Think about that. If you dare, go onNetflixand test the hypothesis. "[10]CriticNathan Rabingave the film a D−[11]in his initial review, then noted that "Bucky Larsonwas panned so viciously that my D− ranked on the generous side of critical appraisals "when revisiting the film a second time for hisMy Year of Flopscolumn, where he cited it as an example of a "shitty miracle, [a film where]everythinggoes 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. "[12]

Accolades

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The film earned six nominations at the32nd Golden Raspberry Awardsincluding Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Nick Swardson), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Ensemble, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel (rip-off ofBoogie NightsandA Star Is Born). It lost in all six categories toJack and Jill,another poorly received film in which Adam Sandler and Nick Swardson had involvement.[13]

Box office

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Bucky Larsonwas a box office flop, earning only $1.4 million to land at #15 for its opening weekend, thus makingBucky Larsonthe 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.[14]

The film's budget was under $10 million.[1]

Response from Swardson

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Swardson defendedBucky Larsonin 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.[15]

In the same interview, 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 seeBucky Larsonand 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. "[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abKaufman, Amy (September 8, 2011)."Movie Projector: 'Contagion' will prove deadly for 'The Help'".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on September 26, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 10,2021.a budget of under $10 million
  2. ^abBucky Larson: Born to be a StaratBox Office Mojo
  3. ^"No-show alert: 'Bucky Larson' - San Antonio Express-News".Mysanantonio. 2011-09-07.Archivedfrom the original on 2011-12-07.Retrieved2013-11-16.
  4. ^"Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star".Rotten Tomatoes.Fandango.9 September 2011.Archivedfrom the original on 26 July 2020.RetrievedOctober 7,2021.
  5. ^"Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011)".Metacritic.September 10, 2011.Archivedfrom the original on September 23, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 10,2011.
  6. ^Dietz, Jason (January 5, 2012)."The Best and Worst Movies of 2011".Metacritic.Archivedfrom the original on January 9, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 8,2012.
  7. ^"Golden Tomatoes Awards 2011".Rotten Tomatoes.1970-01-01.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-01-02.Retrieved2013-11-16.
  8. ^"Movie Title Search: STAR".CinemaScore.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-08-09.
  9. ^"Movie Review: Bucky Larson, Born to be a Star".Archived fromthe originalon September 25, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 14,2011.
  10. ^Scott, A. O. (September 9, 2011)."Making the Most of the Very Least, and Other Lessons".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on September 10, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 9,2011.
  11. ^Rabin, Nathan (2011-09-09)."Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star".The A.V. Club.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-11-10.Retrieved2013-11-16.
  12. ^Rabin, Nathan (2011-09-28)."Miraculous Case File #198: Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star".The A.V. Club.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-10-14.Retrieved2013-11-16.
  13. ^"RAZZIES Nominations".Razzies. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-29.Retrieved2013-11-16.
  14. ^"Weekend Box Office Results for September 9–11, 2011".Box Office Mojo.Archivedfrom the original on September 23, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 11,2011.
  15. ^abKiefer, Halle."Nick Swardson OnBucky Larson,Pretend Timeand the Critics. "Archived2011-10-07 at theWayback MachineSplitsider, 3 October 2011.
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