Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way

English language

ISBN:: 978-0-312-31260-2

(1 review)

Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way is a comedy novel written by actor Bruce Campbell. The novel is written in the first person and involves real life celebrities such as Richard Gere, Renée Zellweger and Mike Nichols; however, it is fiction. On the jacket of Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way the author states, quote: Is it an "autobiographical novel"? Yes. I'm the lead character in the story, and I'm a real person, and everything in the book actually happened except for the stuff that didn't. It was first published on May 26, 2005 and is a satire of celebrity memoirs.

1 edition

Robin Marx reviewed Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell

Review of 'Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

While a work of fiction, this novel is written in the first person with Bruce Campbell himself as the viewpoint character, and the narrative is packed with living Hollywood figures like Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger. The story involves veteran B-movie actor Bruce Campbell landing a supporting role in a big budget romantic comedy called "Lets Make Love." Over the course of the book, Campbell finds himself a bit of a fish out of water as a down-to-earth working man surrounded by Hollywood elite. Hoping to make the most of his opportunity, he throws himself into the role. Most of the book is about his awkward attempts to prepare for the role, researching the lives of doormen, southern gentlemen, relationship experts, and so forth. Over the course of the story he also offers a variety of unsolicited tips and hints to his fellow cast and crew, with the result that …

While a work of fiction, this novel is written in the first person with Bruce Campbell himself as the viewpoint character, and the narrative is packed with living Hollywood figures like Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger. The story involves veteran B-movie actor Bruce Campbell landing a supporting role in a big budget romantic comedy called "Lets Make Love." Over the course of the book, Campbell finds himself a bit of a fish out of water as a down-to-earth working man surrounded by Hollywood elite. Hoping to make the most of his opportunity, he throws himself into the role. Most of the book is about his awkward attempts to prepare for the role, researching the lives of doormen, southern gentlemen, relationship experts, and so forth. Over the course of the story he also offers a variety of unsolicited tips and hints to his fellow cast and crew, with the result that the rom-com begins to chart a course in a very different direction than originally intended.

The tone of the story is everything Bruce Campbell fans could hope for. Both his cocky charm and self-deprecating sense of humor come through loud and clear in his writing voice. As a result, the book reads like Campbell himself is relating tales of his misadventures to a science fiction convention audience. While Campbell is great at spinning yarns, as a work of fiction the story doesn't completely gel. The motives behind the antagonist's--ostensibly a Campbell superfan--attempts to undermine Campbell's career remained murky throughout the book. While funny, the ending also felt rushed and even more cartoonishly over the top than the story preceding it.

Overall this is a fun read and enthusiastically recommended to Campbell fans, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I have his non-fiction showbiz anecdotes.