Make Love!* *the bruce campbell way by Bruce Campbell

Who better to write a B-grade adventure novel than the king of B-movies, Mr. Bruce Campbell? Those familiar with Campbell's first book, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor, will know what to expect when it comes to the author's view of all things Hollywood. He's made the argument previously that all big-budget Hollywood blockbusters are essentially "pumped-up, cheeseball, Saturday matinee serials" - in short, B movies- and he's right.

In Make Love, Bruce creates a fictional account of his temporary rise into the A-Movie stratosphere and the disastrous consequences he has on the production. He's been tapped to star in a new Mike Nichols romantic comedy called "Let's Make Love!" starring Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger. Bruce is chosen to play Foyl, the doorman at Gere's building who's always ready to lend a hand with warm advice and worldly wisdom on love. After landing the role, Bruce has a crisis of confidence and decides that he has to approach the movie method-style. He begins by writing a disastrously funny backstory of Foyl Whipple the doorman, turning him into a tragic hero who rose above a backwoods upbringing to move to the big city. Bruce insists that everyone on the set call him Foyl. He then begins a cross-country quest to learn all he can about relationships (by observing a crooked "relationship doctor"), doormen (by temping for one day at the Waldorf - and being tagged as a threat to national security as a result), and marriage (by talking to Elizabeth Taylor).

In between these misadventures, Bruce starts to infect his co-stars and directors with "the B-Movie Virus". Soon, he has the cast adding fight scenes where they're not needed. The movie becomes less about romance and more about explosions, wire-work, and crazy camera angles. By the end, Bruce is being kicked off of the set, eventually infiltrating Paramount studios to see who's set him up to fail on this now epic film.

To truly appreciate the book, it must be viewed as a 300 page B-movie. Expecting too much from the story will result in a lot of eye-rolling, "oh, come on!" moments... well, more than if you weren't thinking of it as a B-movie ride. Some of the tangent scenes begin to feel like filler, and the villain of the story and his motives are never fully realized. Despite all of this, Campbell delivers the goods in a riotously fun, engaging story that is probably more truth than most of Hollywood would like to admit. Most telling of all are Campbell's final lines: "As for the B-movie virus I was accused of spreading, I've got news for you: the virus has already been active for years... B movies won a long time ago; the A movies just don't know it yet."