Uncle Buck
UNCLE BUCK (12)
D: John Hughes
Universal (John Hughes & Tom Jacobson)
US 1989
100 mins
Comedy
W: John Hughes
DP: Ralf D. Bode
Ed: Lou Lombardo, Tom Lombardo & Peck
Prior
Mus: Ira Newborn
John Candy (Buck Russell), Jean Louisa Kelly (Tia
Russell), Gaby Hoffman (Maizy Russell), Macauley Culkin (Miles Russell), Amy Madigan (Chanice Kobolowski), Laurie Metcalf (Marcie Dahlgren-Frost)
It would sound a little mean and rather unfair to say that
John Candy is very well suited to the roles that require him to be slovenly, but the simple fact is that any other statement couldn't be farther from the truth.
Uncle Buck is a perfect example of one of these roles, a
layabout slob who is reluctantly asked by his brother-in-law to babysit his kids so he and his wife can attend her hospitalised father in Indiana.
Like the majority of John Hughes films, this is aimed
towards a younger audience, but there's still plenty of humour here for adults to enjoy, even though it does veer into rather forced sentimentality towards the end.
A short-lived television series aired a year later, also
starring John Candy, but only ran for a season and wasn't particularly memorable.
6/10
