Get Bruce! (1999)
Affectionate tribute to Bruce Vilanch, who writes material for celebrities who make public appearances, from Oscar hosts and award recipients to Presidents. We meet his mom and see photos of his childhood; in Chicago, he writes for the Tribune and then heads West. Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, and Bette Midler talk with him and to the camera about working with Bruce, and we also watch Bruce help others prepare for Liz Taylor's 60th, Bill Clinton's 50th, and an AIDS awards banquet where the hirsute, rotund Vilanch lets his emotions show.
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Fresh and Exciting
Absolutely Brilliant!
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
I only saw this documentary because it was one of five films on a multi film disc that I got out of the bargain bin and this wasn't the film that I was going for. Bruce Vilanch is an openly gay comedian and writer. He writes for stars especially for the Oscar Awards ceremonies for hosts like Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg. We meet his mother and learn he is adopted. He wears crazy t-shirts and has an ugly beard. I don't think he's a horrible person. He is far more open than most people were long before it was fashionable to come out of the closet. While the documentary has plenty of faults and flaws, it's enjoyable and sometimes just pointless to honor somebody like Bruce Vilanch. When you want a good comedy writer to help with the show like the Oscars, you get Bruce Vilanch to write some jokes. He has written performance pieces for Bette Midler and has been friends for decades with legendary performers. It's interesting to see his past as writing for the Brady Bunch Variety Show in the 1970s after he left Chicago to get his start in Hollywood writing.
I see here nobody's posted a comment about this terrific flick for almost 6 years! Shame on those who've seen it, loved it and not written. Bruce Vilanch is a walking, talking cartoon of a man, as he'd probably be the first to admit. When he locks horns with so many talents, big and not so big, magic happens.Bruce contributes to virtually every awards program you can think of and if you laughed at all during one of these shows, there's a pretty good chance he first wrote the joke or helped punch it up. His life as a born showman took him from student theatre on the East coast to Chicago to LA and almost everywhere in between. Bette Midler, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams, to name just three, are performers who's careers would be significantly less bright if they hadn't met this patron saint of the T-shirt and biting one liner.Bruce's emotions go all over the map in this film, from the joy and pain of gags working wonderfully well or bombing like napalm filled misfires. And his humanity is on prominent display, as his charity work gets heartbreaking attention too.Get "Get Bruce" if you haven't already seen it!
Bruce gets his due that is. This is a man many people don't even know and when they do they know him as the guy who sits in the square next to Whoopi Goldberg on "Hollywood Squares". There is a reason he is there beside some of the best comic minds in Hollywood. Bruce Vilanch is who they go to to get jokes. He is the man behind the best comic moments of the biggest events in Hollywood. This movie follows Bruce as he writes and cuts up with various celebs (the funniest parts are when they just talk in stream-of-conscious style and let the jokes come as they may.) Celebrities are interviewed and Bruce is praised as the comedy-messiah come to earth (which he is), Bruce's mother is interviewed in true Jewish mother fashion and you see where he gets his humor being raised by this lady. If you like gossipy Hollywood humor and in-jokes, you might really enjoy this movie. Recommended!
The movie is very funny and I laughed a lot. Bruce is interesting enough and the people he is shown speaking to, are just as much fun. The Robin Williams part was especially enjoyable.