One sure sign of a good movie is when the main character feels like someone you’ve been reading about, watching and perhaps even laughing along with, your whole life.
That’s the impression John Malkovich’s Buck Howard leaves from the seriously funny new comedy out this week on DVD.
“The Great Buck Howard” worked the film festival circuit before dipping its toe ever so gently into mainstream theaters earlier this year.
That despite the presence of a bewigged Malkovich, rising stunner Emily Blunt and some nice supporting work by Tom Hanks.
The cineplex’s loss is our gain as the film heads on over to Blu-ray and DVD.
“Howard” stars Hanks’ son, Colin, as a confused young man named Troy caught between college and deciding on his career path. He rejects his father’s plan to become a lawyer and, instead hooks up with an aging, has-been mentalist dubbed The Great Buck Howard (Malkovich).
Howard once appeared on “The Tonight Show” 61 times, but that was when Johnny Carson ruled the roost. It’s been dry times ever since for Howard, as he flies from one ramshackle theater to the next, all the while convincing himself he’s one stunt away from resuming his rightful place in entertainment.
Troy knows being Howard’s road manager is hardly a career stepping stone, but he gets to hang out with a truly singular personality and even make time with a cynical publicist (Blunt) assigned to trump up interest in Howard’s ancient shtick.
Young Hanks remains a pleasant but bland leading man, and that’s the weakest link in this otherwise charming comedy. He not much of a counterbalance to Malkovich, who simply runs away with the movie and makes us feel for his character despite the wild mood swings and unchecked ego.
It’s a perfectly modulated performance, and the sly comic turns by Steve Zahn and Griffin Dunne heighten the sense that Buck Howard is a living, breathing creation.
The character is loosely based on The Amazing Kreskin, but Malkovich makes it his own, from his hokey catchphrases – “I love this town!” – to the manner in which he embraces and looks down on small town America in the same breath.
The elder Hanks offers a sturdy anchor as Troy’s disapproving daddy, but it’s clear the son has a ways to go before he can carry a scene, let alone a movie, like his pappy.
(Photo: Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, John Malkovich and Steve Zahn star in “The Great Buck Howard.” Magnolia Pictures)
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