Performer faces end of the road in warm comedy

By Duane Byrge

PARK CITY, Utah (Hollywood Reporter) - A has-been mentalist clings to his glory days in this affectionate on-the-road showbiz yarn. Starring John Malkovich as a once-hot entertainer, "The Great Buck Howard" is a warm, amiable glimpse at the end of the showbiz road.

At his peak, Buck Howard guested on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" 61 times, along the way earning the appellation "The Great Buck Howard." It's a moniker Buck clings to but one that is lost on the new talk show hosts and youth market. The Great Buck is, in short, an old fossil whose '70s-style toupee and cornball approach no longer connect with audiences.

Great Buck is still ready for his close-up, but no one wants to see his mug except in not-so-great places. But he does not go quietly into a fade-out; he clings to the secondary circuit of Bakersfield, Wausau and other boondocks that the aging showman proclaims to love. Any day now, Buck believes, Jay's people will call, and he'll again be in the guest seat in Burbank. Buck's shot back to fame is hooked to creating one more super effect, which he hopes to launch with full media coverage.

The sidekick in this roadshow genre piece is an aspiring young writer, Troy (Colin Hanks), who handles Buck's logistics and indulges his vainglory. Diffident, yet brimming with a subversive sensibility, Troy had the mettle to stand up to his self-made father (Tom Hanks) and quit law school. In a sense, both travelers hope to find themselves: Buck to reconnect with his former self and Troy to develop his writer's voice and become the man he dreams to be.

Dreams, of course, are fueled by many great things, and delusion and illusion are among them. In this light and mature amusement, writer-director Sean McGinly taps the underside of ambition in Buck's pride. McGinly also distills the upside of resolve in Troy's quest for self-fulfillment. Beneath the froth, this comedy smartly touches those wellsprings.

McGinly masks the film's serious side with ripe, observant humor. "Great Buck" is an amiable trek, laced with sly irony and torqued with the wonderful notion that there still is magic in this world.

Malkovich's performance as the fey and egotistical Buck is richly outlandish but shrewdly layered -- no over-the-top rendition of a showbiz type. He conveys the admirable fiber and resilience of a former great. Colin Hanks also distills the inner mettle of the affable but resolute Troy.

The supporting characters are apt and well chosen, particularly Steve Zahn as a local screwball and, nicely realistic, Ricky Jay as Buck's agent-manager. To boot, celebrity cameos, including one by Jack Carter, give credence to the story line and theme.