Uncle Buck Review

        This is probably the hardest month I have to do now. In case you haven’t seen any of my reviews from the past, I’ve practically covered some of the best holiday movies. And that’s gotten me thinking, what now? Well, it took awhile of twiddling my thumbs and I’ve decided to look at an underappreciated John Hughes film Uncle Buck. It’s not Christmas, but it’s in the winter. So close enough. 

1. Buck

        After the success of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, it only made sense for John Hughes to bring back John Candy in another film. Well, it wasn’t the first time where the John’s had collaborated again. The first instance was in National Lampoon’s Vacation, albeit Hughes was the screenwriter and John Candy appeared near the end of the film. 

        With that, the film is mostly straightforward and including the many hallmarks of the typical John Hughes movie. You can call them motifs, but it’s simple to spot. The film takes place of all places Chicago, in a somewhat fancy neighborhood, and the non-diegetic music sounding like Vangelis. Hell, the various sports teams have to show up.

        Anyways, we see Buck being called in by his brother. There’s a family emergency and Buck is tasked with house sitting and taking care of his nieces and nephew. From there, we get to see him slowly changing himself from a slob to a responsible person. Candy does a good job for portraying the uncle. I think what sells him is that he has that awe-shucks persona, with a no-no sense feel.

        The scenes with him and the kids is heartwarming. I think the best moments is when he goes head-to-head with his older niece Tia. From the start, we see her being upset about living in Chicago instead of Indianapolis. She’s the rebellious one and the one that only John Hughes could write and direct. We see that Uncle Buck manages to hold his own when he gets in Tia’s skin. 

        More importantly, his whole character arc or when we see him from the start to the end is kind of interesting. The thing going against him is that people have a notion about him being a slob and a gambling man. Especially, since he has a woman in his life that doesn’t trust him to be committed to a relationship. Which prompts him to act like a dad to his younger niece and nephew. 

        The one problem that I have with the film is that I think the film would’ve been interesting if it explored more on his background. There’s one scene where he sorts through his brother’s marriage album. Buck sees a picture where his profile is folded to fit into the page. I think it shows just the level of uneasy that he had with his family. To me, I think it would’ve been explored more but the film would’ve gone longer. Personally, that scene showed just how much Buck had to do to change his image. 

2. John Hughes’ Waning Quality

        Another thing about watching John Hughes’ films is that you start to notice that the level of quality started to slowly go towards mediocrity. He certainly hit his apex with hits like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to name a few in the 80s. From the late 80s to the 90s is when you start to see the shift. It’s mostly attributed to him going back to his screenwriter position. While he did write Home Alone, I consider that one to be his last great project. That point forward you had loads of bad movies where it seemed like the level of quality was just appalling.

        So, what does Uncle Buck have anything to do with that? Well, I can certainly see it as a film where it’s the beginning of the drop in quality. For one thing, there are moments where it feels cartoony sometimes. Like that one scene with Buck and the clown acting like a drunk. The whole thing could’ve ended with just one punch. Having the character shake his head like a toon just feels off. 

3. Overall

        Uncle Buck is an underrated film that is sandwiched between John Hughes’ great films. It’s a good watch for seeing the late comedian being a great Uncle.