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'Bucky Larson' Is No Box Office Hero
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2:19
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And today's last word in business is about a new movie you might want to go see this weekend, if you like being almost the only person in the theater. You have your choice of seats. You can spread out. The movie is called "Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star." The movie is considered so bad that it scored a very rare zero on the online movie review site Rotten Tomatoes. NPR's Ben Bergman throws a few.
BEN BERGMAN: Variety pans: One feels nothing more strongly than an acute sympathy for all involved. The Hollywood Reporter quips: About as funny as the typical scribbling on a public bathroom stall. And filmcritic.com condenses "Bucky Larson" into one word: swill.
The movie, co-written and produced by Adam Sandler, is about a man who discovers his parents were adult film stars and wants to be one too.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "BUCKY LARSON: BORN TO BE A STAR")
NICK SWARDSON: (as Bucky Larson) I was born to be a star.
MIRIAM FLYNN: (as Debbie Larson) Oh, I don't know about that, Bucky. I mean it's not an easy life.
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SWARDSON: (as Bucky Larson) Oh.
FLYNN: (as Debbie Larson) It's filled with long days and lots of chafing.
BERGMAN: Sony Studios Pictures opened "Bucky" on about 1,500 screens last weekend, and it wasn't hard to find a seat. According to one box office tracking site, each showing had an average audience of just eight.
ANDREW STEWART: Well it's certainly one of the worst studio openings ever.
BERGMAN: Variety's Andrew Stewart says normally a movie like Bucky is known as review-proof, because it's aimed at audiences under 25.
STEWART: A lot of younger audiences don't read reviews and they don't necessarily care if it has a cast or looks funny, then they'll go see it regardless of what people are saying about it.
BERGMAN: In this case, the reviews were so rancid even the teenagers were scared away. Ben Bergman, NPR News. Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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