Chuck and Buck
dir. Miguel Arteta
Artisan Entertainment
Some screenplays are so well-written, the movie can almost direct itself. Being John Malkovich was a brilliant screenplay that could have been a good film under almost anyone's direction. Spike Jonze happened to be above average, and it made for a great film. Ditto The Usual Suspects.
The screenplay for Chuck and Buck, by Mike White — who plays Buck in the film — fits this description. Its idea is original, its characters are multi-faceted, and its focus is defined. What makes Chuck and Buck have to settle for being decent rather than great, however, is its budget. That's generally no reason to fault a project; but in the case of this potential-filled story, it has to be.
Direction by Miguel Arteta, of the hit-and-miss Sundance darling Star Maps, isn't great, but it doesn't harm the film. Chuck and Buck was shot digitally, which sometimes works just fine. Here, it distracts at times, but doesn't take away from the film as much as the acting, which ranges from amateurish to just plain bad. These are multi-faceted characters engrossed in complex situations, and the cast isn't up to the challenge.
Charlie (Chris Weitz), aka Chuck, is a studly music industry guy living in L.A. with his hottie fiancé Carlyn (played by Beth Colt). True to his profession, he's shallow and materialistic, but when he's surprised by his childhood pal Buck with an invitation to his mother's funeral, Chuck obliges.
Buck is a 27-year-old trapped inside the mind of an 11-year-old. He sucks lollipops all day, and his room looks more like the set of "Webster" than that of an adult.
Buck longs for the days when he and Chuck were pre-teens, exploring the delicate, often awkward, paths and plateaus pointing to the cliffs overlooking that vast canyon dubbed young adulthood.
OK, they used to suck each other off in the forest. But Buck, still stuck in that same old canyon, is perplexed when Chuck doesn't respond to his advances in the bathroom following the funeral. Chuck flees the scene, but doesn't tell his wife why.
Buck, wearing his id on his sleeve, decides to move to Los Angeles to better stalk Chuck at his home and workplace.
This isn't a love story. Buck may think he's in love with Chuck, but he's relating to him in the only way he knows how. This is a complicated issue, but White's screenplay lays the situation out well and never sells it out for sentimentality.
Buck writes his own play, Hank and Frank, and hires the local theater's manager, Beverly (Lupe Ontiveros), to direct it, just to show Chuck how much fun the old days were.
The play itself is a hilarious Freudian carnival, a cavalcade of homoerotica buried beneath a child's play about two friends threatened by an evil witch (the fiancé).
While casting the play, Buck becomes smitten with a talentless oaf of an actor named Sam (played by Weitz's real-life brother Paul). The Weitz brothers look similar, but unfortunately for Chuck and Buck, neither can act very well. (Incidentally, the two collaborated on the screenplay for American Pie. In other words...they're rich, so don't cry for the impending end of their acting careers).
Nonetheless, Buck insists he be in the play. One night, Buck makes a pass at him too, nicely restating the fact that Buck isn't necessarily gay, but, perhaps, has trouble knowing how to relate to people and understanding friendship and love.
Buck is a deep, compelling character. It's understandable that White would want to hog it for himself. At times, he's fine. His acting style is kind of unsteady, which mirrors Buck's unsure approach to life. But this works against White too when the nuances of the character — facial expressions, body movements, sucking of lollipops — don't come off as genuine.
That might seem nitpicky. It's not. The acting is bad. But it's more glaring when held up to the marvelous screenplay. That's not to say that Chuck and Buck isn't worth your money. It's to say that this is a world-class story buried in an amateur production.
— Aaron Tassano (aaronaroundthecorner@yahoo.com)
