Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I thought Bruiser was going to be about a normal guy who loses the plot and goes mental with revenge.But instead we have terrible acting from Jason Felmyng. A lot of it reminded me of a theatrical.As others have said, it lacks punch, direction and interest.It is very badly acted, and reminded me a C-movie you would see early into the hours of the morning had you been unable to sleep that night.The idea for the mask was just ridiculous. And it looked ridiculous. The way the guy planned his murders was just pathetic. A guy who was intent on a murder rampage would just do it all in one day or night, but instead our main character gives a little speech before each murder.What a bore this movie was. Do not waste your time on it.

Peter Stormare is certainly more cleaned up than he was in Fargo, but as Milo, the racist, obnoxious, misogynistic boss of Bruiser magazine, he is off the charts. I imagine he will be on the top of Henry's (Jason Flemyng - Layer Cake, Transporter 2) list when things change. Especially when he sees his wife (the smoking hot Nina Garbiras) jerking him off. Maybe she will be first.Henry wakes the next day without a face. It isn't like he is not recognized, but he has a whole new personality. No longer a carpet, he is taking positive action against those who wronged him: his lousy boss, his cheating wife, and a friend who is ripping him off.What will happen when he is through? Will he be a changed man? Will the mask disappear? George A. Romero still gives us a good story. It may not be zombies, but it is food for thought. What would we do if we woke tomorrow with a new personality?

There is about 20 minutes of interesting movie here, in the opening preamble and in the grand guignol of the masquerade party. In between, this is poor.I love Romero films, for, amongst other things, their mixture of grotesque violence and gallows humour. With Bruiser, apart from the delicious viciousness of the set-up of our faceless non-hero, this provided some peculiar and unsatisfactory combination of Zorro and Death Wish, without atmosphere, coherence or even any real energy. Did the whole budget get blown on the set for the masquerade? I wanted to like it, was expecting to at least enjoy it in a time-passing way, and was only bored and frustrated by it.

Aside from this being another well written and well directed film by Mr. Romero, having Tom Atkins (Night of the Creeps, Halloween 3) and The Misfits (The Michale Graves Era Misfits) makes this movie so much more cooler. The story follows the main character who even as a adult is still greatly picked on and belittled. He wakes up one morning without a face and decides to go after those who have wronged him. Call it a revenge film if you want, I call it fun.If you watch the DVD of Bruiser, be sure to watch the music video Romero directed for The Misfits. All the Misfits are zombies and are attacking a hospital. Very cool.