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Movie Review
Bubba Ho-tep
By Lee Tistaert Published October 4, 2003
US Release: September 19, 2003
Directed by: Don Coscarelli
Starring: Bruce Campbell , Ossie Davis , Reggie Bannister , Bob Ivy
R
Running Time: 92 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $1,185,000
Directed by: Don Coscarelli
Starring: Bruce Campbell , Ossie Davis , Reggie Bannister , Bob Ivy
R
Running Time: 92 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $1,185,000
C+
It is unfortunate to spread on that this production is quite a disappointment.
Bubba Ho-Tep, the latest Bruce Campbell comedic horror flick, had the potential to kick ass in the division of awesome-ness ? because it doesn?t, it is unfortunate to spread on that this production is quite a disappointment.
Am I fan of Bruce Campbell? Yes, but not to the extent of showing up to a midnight screening of Army of Darkness at the Nuart in LA dressed up as Ash, ready to cheer for two hours. I liked Evil Dead and consider Army of Darkness as a tough one to beat in his career, but with Bubba Ho-Tep it's a completely different scenario.
The film starts off with a promise of solid tongue-in-cheek humor, almost spoofing its genre. We get to know our two main players: Bruce Campbell, who plays an Elvis impersonator who believes that he is ?The King,? along with Ossie Davis, an older man who is convinced that he is JFK but that he was dyed black.
As this introductory material plays, the film makes one believe that this might be a quirky tale. But as time progresses and the movie shifts into its second act, Bubba has lost some of its edge ? and as the film keeps chugging along, Ho-Tep is a very questionable trip.
The film centers around a mummy legend known as Bubba Ho-Tep, who seems to be sprawling the corridors of the mental institute of which Campbell and Davis? personas are located. As deaths show up, the wannabe Elvis and JFK make an effort to seize the creature.
This is one of those truly weird movies where walking out, a viewer can contemplate whether or not he/she even liked the movie. There may be moments, but there?s so much ridiculousness and questionable camp value thrown in that one may not be able to distinguish this flick between a good and silly mock and a poor parody.
I laughed several times, but I found a decent chunk of the duration to be a bore to sit through, let alone finding some scenes to be standing on the brink of pointlessness. The film has a fun spark to it in its beginning stages that is hard to resist, but after a while, not much within the script is ever expanded upon, making the viewer crave more and retrieving less in the process.
Bruce Campbell, who has a cult fan-base composed of 20 ? 30-year olds (and some older teens), won Best Actor at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival, which has caught intrigue among fans, as the Evil Dead trilogy star is probably not the imagined candidate to win anything serious. Campbell?s performance as an Elvis wannabe is rather impressive, but watching the film play out in the long run simply made me want to go home and slide in my DVD copy of Army of Darkness for a fun experience that I wasn?t entirely having at the theater.
Ossie Davis, who may pick up even more humored responses from fans than Campbell due to his very unique character (before viewers sit down), is given a few good moments, but is too often left with tame material. There are a few lines he delivers that are probably intended for enthusiastic laughs, but the punch lines are not supported by a solid setup ? there is a joke, but the maneuver is uneven, forcing the gag to fall rather flat.
And in terms of Campbell, there are about two or three moments throughout Bubba Ho-Tep that are (no doubt) geared to lead a sold out crowd of Bruce fans into applause and cheers. While none of that happened at my 5:00 screening on opening night at the Nuart (though receiving laughs), I can imagine the responses exerted by the sold out crowds that showed up for the later two shows. But there really is not a whole lot to praise besides these few expected moments ? these spots work in camp value, but cannot totally rescue the somewhat dull environment of other segments.
Bubba Ho-Tep also came out of the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival winning for Best Screenplay (by Don Coscarelli). And as much as the general concept of this feature might be worth a laugh in curiosity?s sake, nothing is really done with it besides an in-general joke that is well established even before moviegoers are sitting in the theater seats.
In that regard, Ho-Tep is one of those few movies that comes along where its cult crowd will probably walk in knowing it?s a great movie before knowing the truth. And it?ll be those precise expectations that lead the experience to be a blast for some, even if it may not be to someone else who is not convinced that the film is terrific beforehand. I went in wanting to enjoy Bubba Ho-Tep for what it was, with the realization of my disappointment sinking in gradually.
Writer/director Don Coscarelli attempts to blend offbeat comedy with a fantasy-like horror tone (along with a dramatic edge), but the balance is never established accordingly, making the project an occasionally amusing but non-scary tale. There are a few short sequences in the flick?s creepy territory that I dug quite a bit, but nothing in these bits is ever fulfilled or paid off. Like this year?s independent horror flick, The Eye (C+), there is some tension and curiosity, but never a resolution fulfilling our wonder. We are simply left wondering what the hell is going on, and leaving the theater with that same query.
Bubba Ho-Tep transitions into a third act that is by no means logical nor baring intelligence, and in that case the finale could leave some audiences in laughter for its rather silly approach. For me, however, I found the ending of Bubba to be quite underwhelming (if that were a word), finishing off its duty even before excitement or the ?cheer factor? is sincerely created.
The idea of Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis hunting down a mythical mummy figure has, as guilty as I may be, great opportunities for fun and enthusiasm-inducing material. However, the execution of this idea is not carried out the way in which a Bruce Campbell fan would probably expect.
As the audience, we?re not allowed to support our voice in the final stages of the show, but rather, allowed to watch. And with two characters as mentally out-of-it as these two personas, this setup could easily lead into a memorable finale, possibly even poking fun at the hero vs. villain genre ? in other words, an ending evoking audience applause.
Unfortunately, we are only left speculating what we may have seen had the material been developed even further, and if perhaps the concept were more than just a one-joke premise. Bubba Ho-Tep had a rather stupid but potential story that could?ve gone places with the duo at hand, but all we have is the letdown that the feature didn?t go that distance.
Duos like this don?t come around all that often, and the same goes for the story, even if it is edging ridiculousness ? but that?s kind of the point, and Coscarelli has missed that great opportunity that he built for himself.
Am I fan of Bruce Campbell? Yes, but not to the extent of showing up to a midnight screening of Army of Darkness at the Nuart in LA dressed up as Ash, ready to cheer for two hours. I liked Evil Dead and consider Army of Darkness as a tough one to beat in his career, but with Bubba Ho-Tep it's a completely different scenario.
The film starts off with a promise of solid tongue-in-cheek humor, almost spoofing its genre. We get to know our two main players: Bruce Campbell, who plays an Elvis impersonator who believes that he is ?The King,? along with Ossie Davis, an older man who is convinced that he is JFK but that he was dyed black.
As this introductory material plays, the film makes one believe that this might be a quirky tale. But as time progresses and the movie shifts into its second act, Bubba has lost some of its edge ? and as the film keeps chugging along, Ho-Tep is a very questionable trip.
The film centers around a mummy legend known as Bubba Ho-Tep, who seems to be sprawling the corridors of the mental institute of which Campbell and Davis? personas are located. As deaths show up, the wannabe Elvis and JFK make an effort to seize the creature.
This is one of those truly weird movies where walking out, a viewer can contemplate whether or not he/she even liked the movie. There may be moments, but there?s so much ridiculousness and questionable camp value thrown in that one may not be able to distinguish this flick between a good and silly mock and a poor parody.
I laughed several times, but I found a decent chunk of the duration to be a bore to sit through, let alone finding some scenes to be standing on the brink of pointlessness. The film has a fun spark to it in its beginning stages that is hard to resist, but after a while, not much within the script is ever expanded upon, making the viewer crave more and retrieving less in the process.
Bruce Campbell, who has a cult fan-base composed of 20 ? 30-year olds (and some older teens), won Best Actor at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival, which has caught intrigue among fans, as the Evil Dead trilogy star is probably not the imagined candidate to win anything serious. Campbell?s performance as an Elvis wannabe is rather impressive, but watching the film play out in the long run simply made me want to go home and slide in my DVD copy of Army of Darkness for a fun experience that I wasn?t entirely having at the theater.
Ossie Davis, who may pick up even more humored responses from fans than Campbell due to his very unique character (before viewers sit down), is given a few good moments, but is too often left with tame material. There are a few lines he delivers that are probably intended for enthusiastic laughs, but the punch lines are not supported by a solid setup ? there is a joke, but the maneuver is uneven, forcing the gag to fall rather flat.
And in terms of Campbell, there are about two or three moments throughout Bubba Ho-Tep that are (no doubt) geared to lead a sold out crowd of Bruce fans into applause and cheers. While none of that happened at my 5:00 screening on opening night at the Nuart (though receiving laughs), I can imagine the responses exerted by the sold out crowds that showed up for the later two shows. But there really is not a whole lot to praise besides these few expected moments ? these spots work in camp value, but cannot totally rescue the somewhat dull environment of other segments.
Bubba Ho-Tep also came out of the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival winning for Best Screenplay (by Don Coscarelli). And as much as the general concept of this feature might be worth a laugh in curiosity?s sake, nothing is really done with it besides an in-general joke that is well established even before moviegoers are sitting in the theater seats.
In that regard, Ho-Tep is one of those few movies that comes along where its cult crowd will probably walk in knowing it?s a great movie before knowing the truth. And it?ll be those precise expectations that lead the experience to be a blast for some, even if it may not be to someone else who is not convinced that the film is terrific beforehand. I went in wanting to enjoy Bubba Ho-Tep for what it was, with the realization of my disappointment sinking in gradually.
Writer/director Don Coscarelli attempts to blend offbeat comedy with a fantasy-like horror tone (along with a dramatic edge), but the balance is never established accordingly, making the project an occasionally amusing but non-scary tale. There are a few short sequences in the flick?s creepy territory that I dug quite a bit, but nothing in these bits is ever fulfilled or paid off. Like this year?s independent horror flick, The Eye (C+), there is some tension and curiosity, but never a resolution fulfilling our wonder. We are simply left wondering what the hell is going on, and leaving the theater with that same query.
Bubba Ho-Tep transitions into a third act that is by no means logical nor baring intelligence, and in that case the finale could leave some audiences in laughter for its rather silly approach. For me, however, I found the ending of Bubba to be quite underwhelming (if that were a word), finishing off its duty even before excitement or the ?cheer factor? is sincerely created.
The idea of Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis hunting down a mythical mummy figure has, as guilty as I may be, great opportunities for fun and enthusiasm-inducing material. However, the execution of this idea is not carried out the way in which a Bruce Campbell fan would probably expect.
As the audience, we?re not allowed to support our voice in the final stages of the show, but rather, allowed to watch. And with two characters as mentally out-of-it as these two personas, this setup could easily lead into a memorable finale, possibly even poking fun at the hero vs. villain genre ? in other words, an ending evoking audience applause.
Unfortunately, we are only left speculating what we may have seen had the material been developed even further, and if perhaps the concept were more than just a one-joke premise. Bubba Ho-Tep had a rather stupid but potential story that could?ve gone places with the duo at hand, but all we have is the letdown that the feature didn?t go that distance.
Duos like this don?t come around all that often, and the same goes for the story, even if it is edging ridiculousness ? but that?s kind of the point, and Coscarelli has missed that great opportunity that he built for himself.
Lee's Grade: C+
Lee's Overall Grading: 3025 graded movies
| A | 0.4% | |
| B | 30.0% | |
| C | 61.7% | |
| D | 8.0% | |
| F | 0.0% |
