Review of Uncle Buck (1989) by Grant S — 07 Nov 2017

Bob and Cindy Russell have a dilemma: Cindy's father, who lives far away, is sick and they need to go see him. However, who will look after their three children for the several days while they are away? Out of desperation they turn to someone whom they have grave reservations about in terms of his suitability for the job - Bob's single, layabout brother, Buck.

Sweet, funny movie, written directed by the master of the poignant-yet-funny 80s comedy-drama, John Hughes. I didn't have high hopes for it initially, suspecting it would be a slapsticky adults vs anarchic children caper.

However, while it threatens to go in that direction every now and again, the movie manages to stay focused. Very engaging, and much more than just a comedy. The transformation of Uncle Buck, played superbly by John Candy, from a single slacker to a responsible adult with better parenting skills than most is quite heart-warming and makes the movie into a great drama.

Some quite hilarious scenes too, so a good combination of comedy and drama.

Unfortunately, probably thanks to some scenes in this movie and Macaulay Culkin's role in it, John Hughes did go down the silly adults-vs-kid (with the kid as the hero) slapstick route soon after this. Within a year, he wrote Home Alone...