The Great Buck Howard doesn’t deserve the following review. It never meant to offend, and I hate to be so hard on it. Nothing about the film is storm-angrily-from-the-theater bad; it’s just a low-budget indie film that no one but me and the other five people who were in the theater are probably going to see. It’s not another Knowing, thank God. But the point of a movie like this is to entertain, and, with one exception, it fails to do so.
The meandering story is a simple, predictable one, focusing on the life of Troy Gable (listlessly played by Colin Hanks), who, no longer able to stand his life as a law school student, suddenly drops out, trekking to Los Angeles to “find a dream before it’s too late.” Realizing that his dreams won’t put food on the table, Troy takes a job as the personal assistant to the titular Buck Howard, a has-been magician who is a walking, talking relic of the ‘70s, down to his campy magic shows and garish, colorful suits.
Buck, played by the delightfully odd John Malkovich, is the heart and soul of this otherwise heartless, soulless film. Buck is your stereotypical past-his-prime celebrity, constantly bragging that he’s appeared 61 times on the Tonight Show … when Johnny Carson was still hosting it. Now he performs in half-full stadiums in podunks Middle America for aging audiences.
Malkovich prevents the character from becoming a mere stereotype, infusing the aging performer with genuine charm, from his painfully vigorous handshakes to his enthusiastic and constant catchphrases. He’s egotistical and pathetic at the same time, but you never stop sympathizing with him. He continually moves between clueless, pathetic fool, and domineering mastermind, and yet you don’t hate him. Yes, Buck’s larger than life and a bit insane, but anything else from Malkovich would be a disappointment.
Unfortunately, the list of worthwhile things in this movie is only one John Malkovich long. Hanks is flat and uninteresting, and displays zero chemistry with either his love interest (played by Emily Blunt) or his father (played by his real life father, Tom Hanks). Even worse, his heavy-handed narration repeatedly, brutally beats the viewer over the head with the importance of following one’s dreams and finding one’s place in life. Meanwhile, able actors like Blunt, the elder Hanks, and Steve Zahn are constrained as two-dimensional plot devices. In sum: meh.
The story lazily drifts from one seemingly pointless event to another. Most of the movie deals with setting up the characters and trying to make us care about them. By the time we reach the turning point (Buck’s predictable redemption as a celebrity and inevitable return to the spotlight), the film’s almost over. And the “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” of an ending is too schmaltzy for even a TV movie.
If nothing else, The Great Buck Howard serves as a cautionary tale for any would-be filmmakers out there: you can hire the best actors in the business, but even John Malkovich isn’t going to turn a middling and clichéd script into a worthwhile movie.
