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I have never believed the cinematic sun rises and sets with John Malkovich. I cannot deny the man his talent, and I admire his refusal to be pigeonholed, however, he has often left me cold, preferring craft over revealing his inner self on screen.
One of my favorite roles comes in "Being John Malkovich," which showed he is an incredibly good sport and a gifted comic actor. Malkovich returns to his funny ways as the title character in "The Great Buck Howard" and gives one of his better performances as a cheesy mentalist past his prime.
Buck Howard, who appeared on "The Tonight Show" many times when Johnny Carson was host. Buck entertains audiences by guessing what numbers they are thinking and hypnotizes them into believing they are barnyard animals. Troy Gabel (Colin Hanks) has just quit law school to find his true calling. He accepts a job as Buck’s assistant for the money, but soon becomes fascinated by the man.
Malkovich gives a touching, hilarious performance, showing a side we rarely see. One gets the feeling in his 30 or so years in show business, he may have come across his share of Buck Howards and is not without empathy. The movie could have been better as it gets in its own way with too many quick edits and an annoyingly upbeat score by Blake Neely that doesn’t trust us to figure out the funny parts. Yet, the movie manages to be humourous and sweet in a way we don’t see much anymore.
Hanks is quite good as a light comic lead and reminded me of Jack Lemmon in his prime. His dad Tom makes a brief appearance and also co-produced the movie.
"The Great Buck Howard" is a nice little valentine to the also-rans of show business that is bolstered by a surprising turn by a virtuoso who is known more for his chops than his warmth.
The Great Buck Howard
PG
Three reels out of four
Starts tomorrow at the Ritz at the Bourse
Recommended Rental
Bolt
PG
Available Tuesday
Fresh off an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature Film, Bolt (voiced by John Travolta) is a TV dog who mistakenly believes he has super powers because his character does. When he escapes from the set because he thinks his owner (voiced by Miley Cyrus) has been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Calico (voiced by Malcolm McDowell), the pooch is thrust into the real world.
Along the way Bolt meets a feisty alley cat (voiced by Susie Essman) and a TV-loving hamster (voiced by Mark Walton) and learns to believe in himself.
