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‘The Great Buck Howard’

With its humorous pot shots at the cult of celebrity, the film suggests that loving what you do is more important than what you do

By Bob Brown
THIS is one of those feel-good movies we seem to crave in the depths of a recession. There’s nothing wrong with that, although the salubrious effect is often more anesthetic than of esthetic. The main message, according to writer-director Sean McGinly in production notes to the film, is that “it is never too late to reshape one’s life.” How true that is, especially when many are finding themselves adrift without a job.
   To that end, the story is based not so loosely on McGinly’s own experiences, trying to find his way as a stranger in the dystopian paradise of Hollywood. In the production notes, he explains, “I went to law school like (the lead character) Troy and quit very soon after arriving. I cashed out my student loan and moved to LA, not knowing anyone or anything. I was completely clueless. I hadn’t written anything. I wasn’t some child prodigy. It was a ridiculous thing to do. So I had a succession of weird Hollywood type jobs where I met different kinds of strange characters, some who were on the fringes of the entertainment business.”
   Among those strange characters was The Amazing Kreskin, a guy who has logged millions of miles through decades of shows. He’s a recognizable name, but it’s been some years since he has appeared with regularity on the nighttime talk circuit.
   One of the weird jobs McGinly signed on to was as The Amazing Kreskin’s road manager; just as Troy Gable (Colin Hanks) signs on to become the personal assistant to The Great Buck Howard (John Malkovich). And like Kreskin, Buck Howard claims to be more than a mere magician — he’s a mentalist. He pulls doves out of napkins, coins out of ears, and he can even find his evening’s pay hidden somewhere among the audience. (The latter is a trick straight out of Kreskin’s show.) What he can’t seem to get through his skull, however, is that his audiences are dwindling, that his venues are lesser, and that the Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson), where he has appeared 61 times, is not going to call.
   In a word, the not so Great Buck Howard is washed up. Into his sad retinue comes Troy, who becomes Buck’s road manager and assistant when Buck fires the cynical Alan (Adam Scott). Without bearings or instructions, Troy sails along, trying to anticipate Buck’s needs and ignore his insults. Buck has several humorous trademarks: a garish wardrobe of mismatched ties and shirts from the 1960s, a hearty handshake (it ripples through the arm and shakes the entire body), and a catch phrase, “I love this town!” No matter how small the town or thin the attendance, the love really seems genuine from both sides.
   Going along for the ride, Troy operates on automatic pilot, trying to avoid his father (Tom Hanks — Colin’s real dad), who thinks he’s still in law school. Things get complicated when Buck hires a publicist to promote his most daring stunt, a mass hypnotism. Valerie Brennan (Emily Blunt) subs for the star publicist, who had more important clients. She probes why a bright guy like Troy is stuck waiting hand and foot on this loser. Together, the two find each other more interesting than Buck, and at this point the film presses toward the moral of the story. Troy now realizes that, as for himself, “Life is short… I want to spend my time here doing something that makes my heart race.” For a starter, Valerie will do nicely. But what of Buck, who still has ambitions of his own? A comeback seems possible.
   The pleasures in this film begin with the performance by Blunt, who can be charming and smarmy and sexy. Minor character roles by Debra Monk and Steve Zahn, a brother-sister team of hosts in Cleveland, are hilarious. She is a Red Hat Lady, who wants to grab a little of Buck’s spotlight for her own advancement, while he takes his job as a toadying chauffer to the sartorial limit.
   Malkovich hasn’t done a role this goofy since his turn as himself in Being John Malkovich, where he parodied the life and obsessions of celebrities. As the Great Buck Howard, he pushes it just a bit further, with a bittersweet twist. How can you hate a faded star whose mean-spirited demands are really just a cover for his own fears of irrelevance? As Troy explains Buck’s idiosyncrasies to Valerie, “Most creative people just want the world to love and adore them, which is infantile, but it’s true.”
   The film, with its humorous pot shots at the cult of celebrity and the sadness of elusive stardom, suggests that loving what you do is more important than what you do. In Buck’s case, fame in itself is not what floats his boat, even though he entertains the delusion of still being able to chase after it. He was on top with Johnny Carson, so he sniffs at the current Tonight format, especially “that nit-wit who’s on there now.” In the age of the economic meltdown, one plucks smaller pleasures from the garden of diminished expectations.
Rated PG for some language including suggestive remarks, and a drug reference.