The Great Buck Howard

So, we have this independent movie theater here in town. It's been here not quite a year, but it's doing quite well. They recently acquired the movie "The Great Buck Howard", and are showing it in a limited run. My wife and I met some friends there for a show the other night.

The Great Buck Howard stars John Malkovich and Colin Hanks. It costars Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn, and Tom Hanks (imagine that!). There is also a smattering of Hollywood celebrities throughout.

Colin Hanks is a law-school dropout that finds himself in LA, filled with ideas of life-changing options. He finds work as an assistant for Malkovich's character, The Great Buck Howard, who is a mentalist - someone who can tell what people are thinking, what people have secretly written on slips of paper, and, his grande finale, finding the money he is owed for his show, hidden by the audience, somewhere among audience members. Buck Howard is a character that used to be wildly popular, but in recent years, his popularity and demand for his appearance has dwindled. Colin's justification for staying loyal to Howard is that he needs time to figure himself out. In the meantime, Malkovich is busy planning a dramatic comeback.

The movie is relatively short, and not terribly in-depth. There is probably the funniest line I've heard in a movie recently. Howard is playing the piano, dedicating a song to his dear friend, George Takei (Sulu of the Star Trek fame), by saying in effect, "May the force be with you". Once I stopped crying (because I was laughing so hard), I explained it to my wife.

Overall, I would recommend this movie, but it's one of those "feelgood" movies. I don't know that I would pay to see this at the theater, if I had to do it again. There just wasn't much in it for me. The theater, however, does have VERY nice seats.

Overall rating: :smiley20:

I caught a free screening of this on HDnet movies. Good movie; I think Malkovich was fantastic. My favorite bit was his constant badmouthing of Leno. Just killed me.