Review of The Great Buck Howard (2008) by Sv G — 22 Jun 2011

I am an enourmous John Malkovich fan and have seen everything he's done, and this is certainly in my top 5 favorite performances of his. The screenplay is based on book by writer & director Sean McGinley who for a short time early in his career was an assitant to the famous "mentalist" The Amazing Kreskin that the character Buck Howard is based upon.

For those of us old enough to remember Kreskin in his hey-day, we would have known that in the first 5 minutes without even knowing. That is how dead-on character Malkovich plays this. It's a light comedy, but the various sides and nuances he brings to this character will move you.

It's about the later part of his career when he is playing much smaller venues and is pretty much only known by those old enough to remember him in the small towns across America. Colin Hanks plays the Sean Mcginley and his real life father plays his father in the film which is a bit of added fun.