Get Bruce! (1999) ***
Produced and directed by Andrew J. Kuehn. Photography, Jose Luis Mignone. Editing, Maureen Nolan. Music, Michael Feinstein. Appearing : Bruce Vilanch, Bette Midler, Billy Crystal , Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Nathan Lane, Roseanne, Carol Burnett, Florence Henderson, Rosie O'Donnell, Shirley MacLaine, Paul Reiser, George Schlatter, Raquel Welch, Sigourney Weaver, and others. A Miramax release. 93 min. R (raunchy talk and jokes)
Produced and directed by Andrew J. Kuehn. Photography, Jose Luis Mignone. Editing, Maureen Nolan. Music, Michael Feinstein. Appearing : Bruce Vilanch, Bette Midler, Billy Crystal , Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Nathan Lane, Roseanne, Carol Burnett, Florence Henderson, Rosie O'Donnell, Shirley MacLaine, Paul Reiser, George Schlatter, Raquel Welch, Sigourney Weaver, and others. A Miramax release. 93 min. R (raunchy talk and jokes)Of the films starting with the word "get" the three most interesting have been the British "Get Carter" (1971), a tough action item with Michael Caine; "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs" (1978) the irreverent French movie with Gerard Depardieu; and "Get Shorty" (1995), the humorous, hoodlum story from Elmore Leonard, with John Travolta.
The "get" in Get Bruce, unlike the other titles, refers to the hirings of real-life Bruce Vilanch by practitioners of film, TV and other events, that is, "celebrities" --which is one of the most irritating and overworked words in American pop culture.
A small, improvised poll turns out this fact: almost no one among ordinary folks has any idea who Bruce Vilanch is. But (a very big but) everyone in showbiz knows that this Bruce is a joke and gag writer who is in huge demand among actors, stand-up comics, sit-down comics, leaders or organizers of such public events as roasts, homages, the Academy Awards ceremonies and so on ad infinitum.
Which explains why this light-hearted documentary is studded with laugh-getting stars, clients, collaborators, admirers and --in the best showbiz tradition --"best friends" of Bruce's. Look at the credits above and you get merely a whiff of Vilanchites.
The voluminous, hirsute Bruce, ever-looking unkempt, ever wearing one of his funny t-shirts from his colossal collection, is a very funny fellow. In interviews which, like good jokes, never overstay their welcome, in amusing conversations, discussions, appearances and the like, in cinema-verite scenes, one learns a great deal not only about Vilanch but also about several of his performer-friends. There are tidbits that inform you about those persons, as well as Bruce, and that make them all more understandable. They also reveal the mechanisms behind the funny stuff.
In a few cases this gets a bit tiresome, notably when Robin Williams keeps appearing and being funny, or so he thinks. But by and large -- as in the case of the parceled out interview of Bruce's vivacious, scene-stealing adoptive Jewish mother --there is lively light shed on the speaker as well as on Vilanch. Or take the sessions in which frequent Oscar-host Billy Crystal sits down with Bruce and both get into the technicalities of what was done, changed or eliminated in the Motion Picture Academy's annual event -- which is discussed as the "nec plus ultra", as something like the Olympic Games of live appearances.
Vilanch does not merely provide jokes. He tailor-makes, very cleverly, to the style and the personality of personalities, so that we, the public, easily believe that the one-liners and others originate with the performers. In addition, Vilanch also coaches the performers with precision, skill and a vast knowledge of what works and what does not, from gestures to looks, from hair to toes, from dressing to walking, and much more.
In addition to the above addition, Bruce himself is a first-rate performer. We see him doing his shticks more than once in this not-flagging, fast-paced, even frantic assemblage of scenes and sequences. The man is a joke factory, which, if listed on the stock market, would keep paying high dividends to shareholders.
Vilanch, a gay man, has done a great deal of good work for the cause of Gay Liberation and AIDS. Just about the only non-comic moment in this documentary is when he becomes lachrymose during an AIDS benefit.
Among the miscellaneous revelations in the documentary is that Bruce originated the famous appearance of then Whoopi's paramour Ted Danson, in an affair where Danson was in blackface. This created a controversy. My position is that the event was in bad taste, but what really shocked me was to hear Whoopi say that something or other was "about Ted and I. " So much for the literacy and grammar of "celebrities. "
"Get Bruce" is a most entertaining ninety minutes. You laugh a lot and learn a lot. But do bear in mind that this work is neither about humor (both in its narrow and wide definitions) nor about wit. Oscar Wilde or even Noel Coward are light-years away. Gags, jokes and ephemeral one-liners are its mainstay and reign supreme.