Besides making a deal off and on, and going to the
racetrack, Uncle Buck does not believe in work. He loves cigars that smell and
wears clothes that don’t match, either him or each other. Vincent Canby said in
his review, “He is the embodiment of all things uncouth that people in the
suburbs hope they have left somewhere else.”
In “Uncle Buck,” released in 1989, John Hughes had the
good sitcom idea of putting Uncle Buck in the middle of the perfect suburb (Winnetka,
IL), in the middle of Hughes’s idea of an average American family. Canby
pointed out, “The results are sometimes funny and, in the way of small-screen
entertainment, so perfectly predictable that one could mail in the laughs.”
When his brother (Garrett M. Brown) and sister-in-law
(Elaine Bromka) are called to Indianapolis, Uncle Buck leaves his superbly good-for-nothing
life in Chicago to take care of his two nieces and nephew. The two younger
children, Miles (Macaulay Culkin) and Maizy (Gaby Hoffman) are at first shocked
by his different methods and then impressed.
The eldest child, Tia, played by Jean Kelly, is a
teenage beauty separated from her parents. She is consecutively embarrassed by
Uncle Buck’s simple ways and furious at his nosing in her romance with a boy
who’s up to no good, played by Jay Underwood. Canby advised, “You don't need a
diagram to know how that will come out.”
Canby noted, “As in ''War and Peace,'' it's not the
plot that counts.” In “Uncle Buck” it’s watching John Candy dealing with a
clown, played by Mike Starr, who arrives for Miles’s birthday party drunk and
driving a Volkswagen with large mouse ears. “In the field of live home
entertainment,” says the clown, “I am a god.” Says Uncle Buck, “Get in your mouse
and leave.”
John Candy is at his best when is sneaky and, at the
beginning, completely cruel to the children. So is the film. Canby said, “When
''Uncle Buck'' goes sweet (complete with Chaplinesque music), fun flees.
''Uncle Buck'' is a movie in which saying ''I love you'' to Mom or Dad or Uncle
Buck solves all problems except, perhaps, acid rain.”
Canby continued, “Although Mr. Hughes has had huge
success with his theatrical movies about teen-agers (''Sixteen Candles,''
''Ferris Buehler's Day Off,'' among others), he may be the first real auteur of
television-style entertainment.”
He knows exactly what he’s doing and does it with
attention to necessary detail. The outside of a house in a Hughes film
immediately sets up the sentimental nature of the characters within along with
the type of movie it is. He can write funny lines. He comes up with charmingly
strange situations. Canby said, “Yet there is something unnerving about the way
he denatures real life.”
Canby continued, “One doesn't notice this in the
limited confines of the small screen. In a movie theater, too many Hughes
images are simply big and empty. They are filler material. Dead. Though he
likes to shoot on location, the world he records seems phony or, at best,
consistently trivial.”
The cast is good, especially Jean Kelly, who not only
looks great but may also be an up-and-coming actress. Amy Madigan does well in
the very short role of Uncle Buck’s steady if impatient female friend. It is
John Candy who gives the film what size it has. He is an entertaining actor
through thick and mostly thin.
Believe it or not, this is another movie I knew about
for a while and had been thinking about watching it. A few months ago, I found
this on Netflix and saw it while exercising. This is another classic that
everyone should see. It’s one of Hughes’s funniest films. This film came out
before “Home Alone” when Culkin got very popular, so seeing this before that,
he did a good job. As stated before, this is mainly a classic due to John
Candy, who was a real force to be reckoned with. Check it out and have a great
time.
All right, everyone, we have reached the end of “John
Hughes Month.” I hope everyone enjoyed the classics I have reviewed of his and
hopefully everyone has seen these classics by now, if they haven’t already. If
you have, you might be in the same boat as I am where I just thought a film was
good or ok.
Check in next month to see what I will review next.