Blog From The Bench

Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way
Ryko Disc
Release Date: September 27, 2005
Amazon

Being a minor league enthusiast of Bruce Campbell, when I saw saw the title Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way on the Verdict Product Availability list piqued my interest, both good and bad (meow!). And since we’re a site that reviews discs, reviewing the book was a little hard to do. So we got the first CD of an unabridged six CD set. And not knowing Campbell’s latest career choices, popping the CD into the car and rolling into the parking lot called my “commute”, I was anxious to hear what was ole Ash was up to. So why not have him talk about it?

“Is Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way a relationship book? If, by “relationship book,” you mean that the characters have relationships or are related to someone, then yes, absolutely. Will you learn how to pick up chicks? I sincerely doubt it, and anyone who would rely on me for love advice needs their head examined.”

And surprisingly, Campbell’s latest tome is a pleasant hybrid of fiction combined with a few small portions of self-help. Bruce manages to surprisingly capture the supporting role in a Mike Nichols film entitled Let’s Make Love!, next to co-stars Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger. Bruce is cast as the doorman in Gere’s hotel, and since Bruce is not the type of guy who normally lands juicy roles in A list features, he preps really hard for his part. He writes a backstory for him, and gets really involved in the part. After a rehearsal, where Nichols tells him, essentially, to get some perspective, so Bruce decides to do some research for the role. And not just for the doorman semantics, where he almost gets his arse summarily kicked. He also learns more about being a relationship expert, as his role puts him in that position. Plus he’s very oblivious to how relationships work, because he’s not much of a ladies’ man. He goes through several different experiences as part of it, and also explains how things work in his life.

Campbell's story is set up like a old-time radio play, with actors playing the roles of Gere, Nichols, Zellweger and others. Bruce has a natural tendency to be a good storyteller, and it really comes through here. You can't go wrong with either the audio or literary version it seems, so I'll be picking up the book over the weekend. The CD is excellent, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.