THEY CALL ME BRUCE

1982 / Director. Elliot Hong.
Review by Glenn Cochrane

Here's another movie from my childhood. It amused me to no end when I was a lot younger and the image of this funny little asian guy wearing a big yellow wig has always left a lasting impression in my mind. Last night I watched it again for the first time in many years. To my delight it hasn't lost it's charm and is funnier now than it ever has been. THEY CALL ME BRUCE is a comedy and parody of the kung-fu films that populated screens in the late 70s. It's about a Korean man who is constantly mistaken for Bruce Lee and works as a chef for a Mafia family. He is given the job of transporting cocaine across America, only that he thinks it's special Asian flour. Along the way he stumbles upon various encounters that require him to play out the Bruce Lee persona. The result is hilarious. The film is more or less one long series of terrible dad jokes... so terrible they're hilarious. "I was once run over by a Toyota. Oh what a feeling!" and "My masseuse got fired. She was always rubbing people the wrong way"... see what I mean? Classic dad jokes, and the film is riddled with them. My personal favourite moment is when he tries to convince police officers that his nunchucks are not deadly weapons but specialised chop-sticks (because he's a big eater). THEY CALL ME BRUCE is comedy gold. As an adult I got so much more out of it and definitely rank it as a classic. Sensitive people need not bother because the films is also packed with every stereotype under the sun. Korean, Chinese, Japanese... they're all the same in this parody and they make no apologies if offensive. LOL On to the sequel, THEY STILL CALL ME BRUCE! 

---