film the great buck howard

Film  The Great Buck Howard   IMDb, IMDb Discussion board  
Code BUCKH
  The Great Buck Howard
Genre Comedy / Drama
Director Sean McGinly   IMDb
Actors  Colin Hanks, John Malkovich, Emily Blunt, Tom Hanks, Steve Zahn
Cat Premiere
Year 2007
Release 2008
Country USA
Runtime 87 min
Format Color, 35mm
   
Dynamic
   
Synopses

As the career of renowned illusionist (Malkovich) continues its decline, a young man (Colin Hanks) fresh out of school becomes his new assistant. But his father (Hanks) is not enthused about his son's career choice at all.
- IMDb.com

Law-school dropout Troy Gable answers an ad for a “personal assistant to a celebrity performer,” hoping it will catapult him to a glamorous career in the entertainment industry. Little does he know that performer is Buck Howard, a "mentalist" infamous for his 61 appearances on The Tonight Show, who has been reduced to a has-been magician in need of a pretty big trick to get him out of this slump.

Writer/director Sean McGinly does the near impossible by successfully encapsulating a whole era of entertainment in one outrageous character. Played with perfection by John Malkovich, Buck is a bigger-than-life mix of ego, sweetness, and delusion packaged in a flamboyant style. As Troy, Colin Hanks does a remarkable job of holding his own, even when deflecting Buck's diva-esque tantrums. In an inspired bit of casting, Tom Hanks plays Troy’s father, who ironically disapproves of show business, and Emily Blunt is the fiery publicist hired to stage the comeback of a lifetime.

McGinly’s secret is that he never allows the film to wallow in sentimentality because Buck doesn't need our pity. He has confidence in his stage presence, and he may even have some authentic magic powers up his sleeve. The true magic of The Great Buck Howard, however, is remembering the power of staying true to yourself even if the world around you has changed. 
–Sundance Film Guide

   
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Misc Info

ExP: Steven Shareshian, Marvin Acuna
Pr: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
CoP: Ginger Sledge
Ci: Tak Fujimoto
Ed: Myron I. Kerstein

   
  from CinemaBlend: link
  The Great Buck Howard

It's unlikely there's any movie at Sundance this year that's more star-studded than this one. The Great Buck Howard is loaded with so many celebrity cameos that it nearly tips over under the weight of its own star power. Colin Hanks presence as the film's leading man Troy Gable is no doubt to blame. In case you haven't heard, he has a really really famous dad. I imagine he has clout.

Tom Hanks by the way, is indeed in the movie. He has a pair of extended cameos playing, rather appropriately, as Colin's rather disappointed pop. He's displeased because his kid has given up law school to become the personal assistant of a has-been magician who goes by the name The Great Buck Howard. John Malkovich is Howard, a glorified lounge act whose claim to fame is that he appeared 61 times on The Tonight Show. Not with Jay Leno, with Johnny Carson. It's been awhile since he's been noticed.

The movie follows Troy and Buck on the road as they play a series of not-so-sold out show dates in small towns. Troy finds a strange sort of peace following around Buck, even though he's a deluded, crazed egomaniac. Troy goes off to find himself and eventually does, but I never felt like the movie found its sense of purpose. Or maybe I was just too distracted by all the famous faces. The movie is crammed with cameos by everyone from Tom Hanks to Steve Zahn to George Takei. It's too much, and the movie gets lost on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Still, it's a crowd pleaser. Malkovich is funny as the preening, arm-pumping Howard, Emily Blunt is luminous as the obligatory love interest, and while Colin Hanks will probably never be the acting genius his father is, that Hanks charm still shines through.
   
  from USAToday
  The Great Buck Howard
Whom it's for: Showbiz fans, psychics with blind spots.

The story: A law-school dropout (Colin Hanks) gets a job in Hollywood as personal assistant to a semi-well-known psychic entertainer (John Malkovich) who insists he's not a magician — he's a mentalist! Mounting a comeback is easier said than done as the arrogant has-been clashes with his new hire. "He's kind of a strange man. He really lives for his public, I suppose," Malkovich says. "He's quite crabby at times. Quite fake, often — but also sort of funny, in a very childish, sort of narcissistic way."

Of note: Colin's father, Tom, in a cameo as the young man's cranky dad.