Chuck and Buck is "a homoerotic misogynistic love story," as one character calls the play being staged within the movie (called Hank and Frank). The titular pair were best friends in childhood, then separated for nearly 20 years. When Chuck, now going by Charlie, comes back into Buck's life, he's a suave L.A. music exec, engaged to the beautiful Carlyn, who doesn't seem to have thought about his old friend since they parted. Buck, on the other hand, has thought of little else, and he quickly becomes obsessed with Chuck, to the point of moving to L.A. and writing the Hank and Frank play to try to show Chuck how he feels.
As Buck, Mike White is just plain creepy looking. He's like a freakier Chris Elliott, if you can (or want to) picture that -- pale, with nearly invisible eyebrows and eyelashes and crooked teeth -- come to think of it, he kind of looks like the albino in Me, Myself and Irene. But he's a terrific actor. Buck's got one foot in the adult world and one in his childhood, and White plays the balance well. It's hard to make a stalker role both funny and sympathetic, yet he does (the operative word here being "pathetic"). Just when you're starting to really hate Buck, he does something that tears at your heart. Maybe it's just that I recognize the feeling of obsession all too well, exaggerated though it is in this case -- you know you're being irrational, and you can't believe the things you say to the object of your fixation, and you're mortified at what a fool you're making of yourself... but somehow you can't stop feeling that way about that person.
Um. Let's change the subject.
The other outstanding performance is Lupe Ontiveros as Beverly, the theater manager who more or less takes Buck under her wing. She's priceless -- perfect comic timing and a wonderfully expressive face. I know I do a good eye roll, but she makes me look like an amateur. She looked awfully familiar to me, and checking on the IMDB, I found that she was also in As Good As It Gets and Selena, among other things.
The only weak link is Chris Weitz as Chuck. He's a dour, wooden lump -- you can't see why either Buck or Carlyn is in love with him. I suspect this is Weitz's weak acting rather than an intentional portrayal. In a neat twist, Buck casts as the Chuck character in Hank and Frank a terrible actor who looks like Chuck -- a metacommentary on Weitz's acting skills, perhaps? (In an even neater twist, the actor is played by Paul Weitz, Chris' brother and the director of American Pie.)
The ending is too facile for my taste -- it ties everything up too cleanly and easily, contrary to the whole complex spirit of the movie. Nevertheless, I definitely recommend this one. You'll laugh, you'll squirm, you'll be moved. And after you see it, tell me if the "oodley oodley oodley" song that plays throughout isn't the creepiest damn thing that ever passed for a children's song.
Back to homepage
Reviews A to F
Reviews G to L
Reviews M to R
Reviews S to Z
Search