Born to Be a Star
Encyclopedia
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is a 2011 American sex
comedy film
produced by Happy Madison Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures
. Adam Sandler
, Allen Covert
, and Nick Swardson
wrote the script and Tom Brady
directed. It was released on September 9, 2011.
), who stumbles upon a family secret: His quiet and reserved parents (Edward Hermann and Miriam Flynn
) 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.
reports that 0% of 32 critics have given the film positive reviews, with a rating average of 1.6 out of 10. On Metacritic
, the film received a weighted average score of 9% based on reviews from 13 critics.
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". 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." Critic Nathan Rabin
gave the film a D− 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."
The film's budget was under $10 million.
Swardson also dismissed the negative reviews. "I knew the critics were going to bury us ... 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."
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
produced by Happy Madison Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...
, Allen Covert
Allen Covert
Allen Stephen Covert is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Adam Sandler.-Personal life:...
, and Nick Swardson
Nick Swardson
Nicholas Roger "Nick" Swardson is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and writer. He is best known for his recurring role as Terry Bernardino in the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, for his work in Happy Madison films, most notably the 2011 film Just Go With It, and for his new Comedy Central...
wrote the script and Tom Brady
Tom Brady (film director)
Tom Brady is a director, writer and producer. He directed The Hot Chick, The Comebacks, and Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star. His television writing credits include work for The Critic, Sports Night, The Simpsons and Home Improvement. He is an alumnus of Harvard and the University of Hawaii at...
directed. It was released on September 9, 2011.
Plot
The story centers on a small-town child-like man, Bucky Larson (Nick SwardsonNick Swardson
Nicholas Roger "Nick" Swardson is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and writer. He is best known for his recurring role as Terry Bernardino in the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, for his work in Happy Madison films, most notably the 2011 film Just Go With It, and for his new Comedy Central...
), who stumbles upon a family secret: His quiet and reserved parents (Edward Hermann and Miriam Flynn
Miriam Flynn
Miriam Flynn is an American voice actress and character actress. She is best known as Cousin Catherine in the National Lampoon's Vacation franchise. As a voice artist, she has been featured in The Land Before Time series, Taz-Mania as the title character's mother, Jean, Poil in The Spooktacular...
) 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.
Cast
- Nick SwardsonNick SwardsonNicholas Roger "Nick" Swardson is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and writer. He is best known for his recurring role as Terry Bernardino in the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, for his work in Happy Madison films, most notably the 2011 film Just Go With It, and for his new Comedy Central...
as Bucky Larson - Christina RicciChristina RicciChristina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
as Kathy - Don JohnsonDon JohnsonDonnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...
as Miles Deep - Stephen DorffStephen DorffStephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
as Dick Shadow - Ido MosseriIdo Mosseri- Biography :His first appearance on television was in the children's program Tofsim Rosh in the early 1990s. Before he enlisted in the Israeli army at the age of 18, he participated in several Israeli TV shows, amongst them the series Lo Kolel Sherot and Inyan Shel Zman...
as J. Day - Kevin NealonKevin NealonKevin Nealon is an American actor and comedian, best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1995, acting in several of the Happy Madison films, for playing Doug Wilson on the Showtime series Weeds, and providing the voice of the title character, Glenn Martin on Glenn Martin,...
as Gary - Edward Hermann as Jeremiah Larson
- Miriam FlynnMiriam FlynnMiriam Flynn is an American voice actress and character actress. She is best known as Cousin Catherine in the National Lampoon's Vacation franchise. As a voice artist, she has been featured in The Land Before Time series, Taz-Mania as the title character's mother, Jean, Poil in The Spooktacular...
as Debbie Larson - Mario JoynerMario JoynerMario Joyner is an American stand-up comedian best known as the host of MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour from 1988–1992....
as Claudio - Nick TurturroNicholas TurturroNicholas Turturro, Jr. is an American film, television and prolific on-stage character actor, perhaps best known for his role as James Martinez, on NYPD Blue from 1993 to 2000.-Early life:...
as Antonio - Mary Pat GleasonMary Pat GleasonMary Pat Gleason is an American film and television actress. From 1983-85 she appeared on The Guiding Light as Jane Hogan.Since the early 1980s she has appeared on such television series as Full House, Murphy Brown, Empty Nest, L.A...
as Marge - Jackie Sandler as Casting director
- Curtis ArmstrongCurtis ArmstrongCurtis Armstrong is an American actor best known for his portrayal as Booger in the Revenge of the Nerds movies, as Herbert Viola on Moonlighting, and as famed record producer Ahmet Ertegün in the film Ray.-Early life:...
as Clint - Brandon HardestyBrandon HardestyBrandon Allan Hardesty is an American comedic performer and actor. Hardesty posts original comedy videos as well as "uncanny" recreations of scenes from movies, playing every part himself, excluding a few of his projects, such as his Little Rascals and the original Batman movie...
as Lars - Adam HerschmanAdam HerschmanAdam Herschman is an American actor.-Film work:Herschman is perhaps most known for his role as Glen in the 2006 film, Accepted. Adam also stars as Archie in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay , Phillip in Soul Men and as Mr. Pickle's employee in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry...
as Dale - Pauly ShorePauly ShorePaul Montgomery "Pauly" Shore is an American comedian and actor who starred in several comedy films in the 1990s and hosted a video show on MTV in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
as AFA emcee - Beverly PolcynBeverly PolcynBeverly Polcyn is an American actress.Poclyn's first appearance was in the 1991 horror movie Speak of the Devil where she played Ettie Glittens. She is mainly recognized for her appearance in Not Another Teen Movie, which resulted in a 2002 MTV Movie Awards "Best Kiss" nomination, along with Mia...
as Mrs. Bozobop - Jonathan LoughranJonathan LoughranJonathan Loughran is an American actor who is in most Happy Madison films with his friend Adam Sandler.-Filmography:* Sexbomb* Bulletproof* The Waterboy* Big Daddy* Little Nicky...
as Bondage guy - Peter DantePeter DantePeter Francis Dante is an American actor. He has been in most Happy Madison films with his friend, Adam Sandler. His roles are usually alongside Jonathan Loughran and/or Allen Covert. His role in Little Nicky was named "Peter". Similarly, his role in Grandma's Boy was named after his last name...
as Dante
Critical
The film was not pre-screened for critics, but was universally panned on opening weekend. Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 0% of 32 critics have given the film positive reviews, with a rating average of 1.6 out of 10. On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film received a weighted average score of 9% based on reviews from 13 critics.
Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
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". 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
Pauly Shore
Paul Montgomery "Pauly" Shore is an American comedian and actor who starred in several comedy films in the 1990s and hosted a video show on MTV in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
has ever been in. Think about that. If you dare, go on Netflix and test the hypothesis." Critic Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film and music critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today....
gave the film a D− 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."
Box office
Bucky Larson earned only $1.4 million to land at #15 for its opening weekend. After two weeks of release, the film had earned a total of $2.5 million, after which it was pulled from theatres.The film's budget was under $10 million.
Defense 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.Swardson also dismissed the negative reviews. "I knew the critics were going to bury us ... 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."