The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
FallGuide2009

Review: The Great Buck Howard

Forgoes ambiguities in favor of schmaltz
By PETER KEOUGH  |  March 18, 2009
2.0 2.0 Stars


VIDEO: The trailer for The Great Buck Howard

The Great Buck Howard (John Malkovich), a "mentalist" (based on "The Amazing Kreskin") whose "effects" include guessing numbers and putting people to sleep, played The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson), but these days he's lucky if he gets a gig in Bakersfield. He's a dying breed, the Randy Robinson of illusionists.

Troy (Colin Hanks) also represents a dying breed, a law student who thinks he might be a writer (though you won't agree when you listen to his voiceover narration). He drops out to find himself and finds instead Buck, signing on as his manager. Which of the two is the bigger phony is just one of the ambiguities director Sean McGinly forgoes in lieu of laying on the schmaltz. Buck is a vain asshole who abuses Troy — but he's getting paid for doing what he loves, as he shows us in his greatest trick: finding his money after it's hidden in the theater.  

And if that fails, well, there's always putting folks to sleep. That's a trick this film has no problem with.

Related: Review: Paris, Review: Defiance, Review: The Stoning of Soraya M., More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movie Stars,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

-->
ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: ZOMBIELAND  |  September 30, 2009
    Does it mean anything that Jesse Eisenberg's follow-up to Adventureland is Zombieland and that it also includes a theme park?
  •   REVIEW: SURROGATES  |  September 30, 2009
    Some day in the future — or is it right now? — people will be replaced by surrogate robots, superhuman automatons who live out big-screen fantasies while their hosts, with their greasy hair and bad skin, sit back in wired-up La-Z-Boys.
  •   REVIEW: WHIP IT  |  September 30, 2009
    Add a dash of the sad beauty contests and kooky, dysfunctional family of Little Miss Sunshine to a helping of the bogus hipness and overexposed star of Juno and whip it good and you get an idea of why Drew Barrymore's directorial debut falls flat as a sappy soufflé.
  •   CRIMSON GREEN  |  September 29, 2009
    "In the summer before the revolution [against the shah], if you asked someone if there might be a revolution, an optimistic person would say, maybe in a century."
  •   REVIEW: CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY  |  September 29, 2009
    In his new film about the Wall Street meltdown, Michael Moore — surprise! — denounces capitalism and its exploitation of the working class. Not that he's above doing a little exploiting himself.

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group