THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD
Directed by Sean McGinly
United States, 87 Minutes
Comedy/Family Friendly
FRI APR 17, 6:30pm
Special Film Sponsor: Arbuckle Costic Architects, Inc.
That most versatile and volatile of actors, John Malkovich, stars as a vain, has-been mentalist who was once a regular on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, but now finds himself playing to sleepy audiences in Bakersfield and Wausau. It is clear to everyone but Buck himself that his act has lost its luster, yet driven solely by delusion, he perseveres, confident in his own celebrity and convinced that his comeback is imminent. All he needs is a new road manager and personal assistant. As luck would have it, Troy Gable (Colin Hanks, son of Tom), a recent law-school dropout, is up to the task. With the aid of a fiery P.R. woman (Emily Blunt) and a bold stroke of fate, this mind-boggling extraordinaire who refuses to relinquish his lifelong relationship with wonder, gives it all his gusto. Malkovich, complete with loads of showy egotism in the form of snits and tantrums, brilliantly plays the trouper’s plight for its redemptive warmth and uplifting bravado.
Filmography: Brothers (06), Two Days (03), The Truth About Juliet (98), Writer’s Block (95)
