THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD is a charming, breezy, fairly family-friendly movie with a nice cast and an almost old-fashioned vibe. It's far from a great movie, and yet it has a quirky originality that makes it worth a look.
Buck Howard (John Malkovich) is a mentalist. In fact, his act is based on The Amazing Kreskin, the hypnotist/mentalist/magician who frequently appeared on Johnny Carson and other talk shows like that. Buck is a fading star however, playing to half-empty theaters in mid-sized cities all around the country. His audience is mostly senior citizens who clearly remember this guy from his days of appearing on THE DINAH SHORE SHOW. His act is sort of dreadful...yet it's sort of amazing too. Colin Hanks plays Troy, a law-school dropout who wants to be a writer, but stumbles into the job of being Buck's road manager.
The film follows Buck on tour, as he works to achieve a comeback of sorts. He doesn't quite seem to get that the likelihood of that is very dim. He isn't deluded enough to think his career is in great shape (he gets that he's become, at best, a third-rate celebrity), but he DOES think that he just needs that one piece of great publicity to rocket himself back into stardom.
The movie takes a bumpy but fairly unsurprising road. It's mostly the charming performers who make it worth watching (and the excellent art & costume direction). Hanks is looking more like his father Tom all the time, and while he doesn't have the gravitas his dad has, he's a nice performer who one day is probably cut out to star in a TV series. (He was excellent during his guest stint on MAD MEN). His Troy is something of a blank...if we didn't get the occasional voice-over narration, we would really struggle to know what kinds of inner turmoil Troy is going through...the script doesn't reveal much about him through the events of the film; he's mostly an observer. Emily Blunt, always welcome, is the publicist who tries to get Buck some national exposure, and also embarks on a predictable but fairly chaste (at least, on screen) romance with Troy. Steve Zahn, again an always welcome presence, shows up briefly as a sort-of limo driver. Griffin Dunne makes a cameo appearance. Tom Hanks even shows up in two scenes as Troy's father (what a stretch!!). He's a producer on the film, so no doubt his influence helped land the film it's plethora of guest stars, including Conan O'Brien, Regis, Kelly, Leno, Tom Arnold, etc. (Arnold has about two lines, both throwaways, and both really funny if you're listening).
The core of the film is Malkovich. I still remember when he was an amazing, credible actor who could play weird characters and make them believable. He has long ago sunk into just being weird most of the time. But his Buck Howard is almost a return to his glory days. The script is too slight to REALLY give us an idea of what is going on inside Buck...but Malkovich launches into the PERSONA of this man with relish and a real sense of fun. It isn't exactly a believable character...but we're mostly only seeing the Buck Howard that his shrinking public sees. Wacky but charming. Enthusiastic but prone to fits of petty anger. Able to charm men & women alike (we never even know what sexual orientation Buck is...even though there's speculation in the film). We have to guess a lot at any inner turmoil he might be feeling (much like with the character of Troy).
There's a truly probing story in here somewhere, but the writer/director apparently wasn't interested in anything too emotional or insightful. It's a fluffy piece, where any bad feelings are quickly overcome. It doesn't take its subject matter lightly, exactly...but it does feel like a conscious decision to make this story breezy. For what it attempts, THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD gets a big smile and a mild recommendation from me.
I said the movie was family friendly. There was virtually no bad language I can remember (it's only PG rated), and the relationship between Blunt and Hanks is mostly hugging and kissing. (We get that they must sleep together, but other than them sitting on a bed necking while fully clothed, that's all we see.) A child of 12 or older with a willingness to see a film outside the ordinary might like this film...or they might find it merely a puzzling curiosity. And not knowing how big THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON once was might detract.
(22 customers reviews)
Customers Rating=4.0 / 5.0
More Detail For The Great Buck Howard Blu ray
- GREAT BUCK HOWARD, THE BLU-RAY (BLU-RAY DISC)
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