Chuck & Buck

Plot synopsis:
Buck O'Brien (Mike White) is a 27-year-old amateur playwright with the maturity level of an adolescent. When Buck's mother dies unexpectedly, he invites his close childhood friend Chuck (Chris Weitz) to the funeral. Chuck (who is now calling himself "Charlie") is a successful music industry exec with a fiancée, Carlyn (Beth Colt). He and Buck experimented sexually with each other when they were 11, but Charlie has repressed these memories and acts as if they had not occurred. Chuck had moved away while they were still children, and Buck has pined after him ever since. During their awkward reunion, Buck makes a sexual advance on Charlie in the bathroom. Charlie rebuffs him, and returns to Los Angeles with Carlyn, but not before extending an obligatory invitation for Buck to visit him there. Buck then withdraws $10,000 from his bank account, packs up his car, and takes up residence in a motel in Los Angeles. He also begins scripting a play on a yellow legal pad: titled "Hank and Frank and the Witch", it is an obvious plea for Charlie's love.
Too shy to announce his presence right away, Buck starts trying to see Charlie at his office at Trimorph Entertainment. Buck also surreptitiously follows Charlie to find out where he lives. While standing in front of the playhouse across the street from Charlie's job, he strikes up a conversation with Beverly (Lupe Ontiveros), the house manager. Buck hires Beverly to produce his play, and casts Sam (Paul Weitz), a talentless actor who bears a strong resemblance to Charlie, in the lead. Buck then works up the nerve to approach Charlie and his girlfriend. After being invited to a party that Charlie and Carlyn host, Buck becomes aware of just how far apart he and Chuck have grown; he feels rejected by Charlie's new friends. He also becomes resentful of Carlyn, who he erroneously believes is interfering with their friendship. As a result of this mind-set, Buck's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and obsessive.
The end of the film deals with both Chuck and Buck confronting each other over their past. The two have sex, and Buck wants Charlie to stay afterward, but Charlie says they must part ways. Buck is distraught afterward, but eventually realizes he has found a new life at the playhouse. When discussing a play over dinner with Beverly, Buck notices Charlie has arrived with Carlyn. Charlie and Buck exchange glances across the room, but Buck ultimately disregards them and goes back to his conversation. Buck comes to the theater to find an invitation to the wedding. Buck arrives at the wedding party and offers the couple his blessing with his presence. Buck and Carlyn make peace as Buck effectively moves on from his obsession with Charlie and keeping their sexual encounter a secret from Carlyn.

Tags: cult, psychedelic, romantic, flashback

Review:
Buck tracks Chuck down and tries to turn things back to the way they were,  which leads to many problems.Keenly looks at many universal human experiences from catering to that 'inner child', avoiding change, holding on to memories of simpler times, and even facing the fact that people can change and drift apart.
Not only does he convincingly play a 11 year old, but he actually LOOKS like one despite being a adult.Has a good non-flashy finale that,in it's own low key way, really hits home.
The notable thing about Chuck & Buck is not just that it's a clever, well made movie with a fascinatingly odd central character, but that it doesn't go where you expect it to.
At first Chuck & Buck seems like a more serious take on The Cable Guy, another weird movie about a strange stalker.
It definitely made me feel uncomfortable at times---kinda like when you want to say to a character in film "No, PLEASE, just DON'T do that!"  I felt so sorry for Buck, he did not mean to be the way the was...he just didn't know any other way.
During all of this film, I never once saw Mike White, the actor, but instead I saw the character of Buck.
This is truly one of those rare instances where you could see why people decide to make films.While I wasn't overly impressed with the acting ability of Chris Weitz (since Mike White overshadowed him), he did help contribute to the overall scheme of the story.
It's very difficult to classify a movie like "Chuck & Buck".
Overall, it's a genre-bending film that, while bizarre and creepy in its story and character development, keeps you watching because it's strangely intriguing.
The only problem lies in the last 20 minutes, where the actions of the main characters simply don't make any sense.Before the ending, however, you're introduced to Buck (Mike White), a 27-year-old who still lives with his mother.
When his mother dies of lung cancer, Buck invites childhood friend Charlie Sitter (Chris Weitz), whom he knew as "Chuck", to the funeral.
Whereas Charlie has moved on with his life as an up-and-coming record executive who is engaged to beautiful Carlyn (Beth Colt), Buck is clearly in a state of arrested development.Mike White, who also wrote the screenplay, is heartbreakingly convincing as Buck, and was very brave in playing such a vulnerable role.
He is very clingy in every manner from the way he hugs Chuck to the way he sucks his Blow Pops, which he does throughout the movie.The film gets decidedly darker when Buck moves out of his mother's house and to L.A., where Chuck now lives.
Childhood friends are reunited years later at a funeral, but while Charlie is now a corporate businessman in Los Angeles, Buck is a lollipop-sucking, simple-minded child in a man's body (with homosexual leanings).
The leading actors (Chris Weitz, a Christopher Reeve lookalike, as Charlie and Mike White in the more showy role of Buck) are both good, yet the structure of this story (man innocently stalking man) makes one uncomfortable.
There are funny scenes and quirky details in Mike White's screenplay (such as the way strangers initially respond positively to Buck), but the overall effect is queasy.
The emotional world of Chuck & Buck's titular Buck is explicated early on as Buck (Mike White), a 27 year old mentally-challenged individual, is shown living in a kitschy suburban home that is decoratively informed by his taste for childlike pleasures.
After his mother dies, Buck decides to re-establish ties with his boyhood best friend Chuck (Chris Weitz), a record executive now living in Los Angeles with his fiancée Carlyn (Beth Colt).
Buck packs up his belongings and moves to the West Coast, setting in motion a troubling series of events so grotesquely humorous and touching that I'm pressed to call the film the scariest film of the year.When Chuck and Buck were 11, they were best friends, and a decade and a half later they find themselves leading decidedly different lives.
The phony-looking Tom Cruise-type that Chuck has become apparently leaves him incapable of realizing that the sixteen years that have separated the two men has caused Buck to live in a child-like world of arrested development.
Chuck, who viewed the experiences with Buck as nothing but the curious experimentation between two young boys, is forced to face the ramifications of the actions he made long ago and the film takes an interesting twist that says plenty about the repressed and inconsiderate desires of yuppie America.Lupe Ontiveros, thankless owner of stereotypically Hispanic characters in films like Selena and As Good As It Gets, almost single-handedly steals the show as the manager that decides to put up a play written by Buck called Hank and Frank.
From the film's oddly addictive theme song to colorful performances, Chuck & Buck not only harbors the creepiest catch phrase of the year (and the one least to be uttered) but the most sardonic and challenging take on the truncated sexual persona..
An absolutely wonderful film, intriguing and revealing.Mike White is fantastic as the obsessed and yet wholly endearing Chuck.
This movie would be much more interesting done from the point of view of Chuck (the sane straight guy) rather than from Buck's twisted, pathetic point of view.
Buck has some serious problems and the message of the movie seems to be a b***job from his best friend from childhood will solve his tendencies to stalk and obsess over people.
The idea of a simple guy stalking his childhood best pal could be put to good use in any of several genres: psychological thriller, broad comedy in the Farrelly-style, light melodrama dissecting the concept of friendship - the potential is great.Given what Mike White and Miguel Arteta did with The Good Girl, I expected this earlier collaboration to defy easy categorisation.
What they've come up with is a deliberately hazy and discomfiting study of a man obsessed; something I'm sure Todd Solondz would appreciate.But as with so many indie films, the neutral viewer is poorly served by Chuck & Buck.
Mike White's delivery as Buck was great, and I did feel very sorry for him at certain points in the movie.
Anyways, the movie seemed like it was hinting at some big secret between Chuck & Buck.
'Chuck and Buck' is one of those films that asks you to spend a LOT (i.e. ALL) of its time with its lead character.
While Chuck has no creative talent, only bargaining with those who do, Buck is an artist, he creates collages and writes plays, which, despite their superficial childishness, contain hard truth, linking him to the film's director (his play-within-the-play, as in 'Hamlet', comments on the action as well as provoking it).
Only twice did I feel sympathy for Buck, when he makes a pass at Sam (an excellent performance by Paul Weitz as the tough with a heart of gold); and when we realise that Chuck wants to get rid of him, not just because of his irritance and embarrassment quotient, but because he has his own urges he is violently repressing, urges hostile to the conservative family unit he desperately defends.I found this a very hard film to enjoy, although there are some exquisitely painful laughs, mostly, cruelly, directed at Buck, and most involving the play sequences, the best since 'Springtime for Hitler'..
Still, it's a good movie in the independent tradition, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting story to watch..
I think that this is one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen.Buck experiences the death of a loved one and sends an invitation of the funeral to his childhood friend Chuck.
Buck feels very alienated by Chuck's fiancée and makes a very drastic move to show his displeasure with her.I think that this is one of THE BEST films to have made it out of 2000.
Excellent pacing and very competent acting by the leading characters; particularly the Buck character - a 27 year old man-child who's unable to move on with his life after his childhood friend, whom he reunites with at the start of the movie, rejects his sexual advances.This movie reminded me of "One Hour Photo", "The Gift", and (most of all) "Enduring Love", as all of these movies feature a likable "stalker", who has no malicious intentions towards the target and you actually sympathize with him.A unique, well-made, thought-provoking movie that does a great job at avoiding clichés.
For me, it is beyond comprehension that people find this film humorous, however, CHUCK&BUCK does make a most peculiar and striking impression.
In 2000, a year of over-hyped and over-rated typical summer movie mediocrity, "Chuck & Buck" is the break film lovers have been looking for.
After his mother dies, his childhood friend, Chuck (now Charlie) played by Chris Weitz, and his fiance come to the funeral and Buck tries desperately to latch onto his best friend again--he even follows him to L.A. where he convinces a stage manager, Beverly (the hilarious, witty character played by Lupe Ontiveros), at a children's theater to produce and direct his play "Hank & Frank" so he can relive his childhood and remind Charlie how happy life used to be for them.
Intriguing characters and a carefully crafted sound track make "Chuck and Buck" a memorable film.
I am surprised to see all the negative reviews out here in IMDB -Land!!!This movie took on alot of issues without pandering to the lowest common denominator.Mike White was great as Buck.It will be exciting to see where his career goes from here.The movie at times became a little overwhelmingly depressing,but the ending made me feel a whole lot better about Buck and film-making in general(especially in this weak year for movies!)8/10.
It's focused completely on Buck, this seriously developmentally retarded individual that is living in his own world but somehow can seem a little menacing at the same time he is innocent.If you give this movie a chance and try to see it as a story about two young men growing up and coming to terms with themselves, it's a good story.
The director of his play was also wonderful.I had a hard time following how Chuck, as a supposed "normal" person, could end up giving into Buck but I guess that was the way the film makers were showing Chuck coming to terms with himself.
I had a hard time buying into it though.Not the best movie but an interesting quirky film that is worthwhile to see..
Chuck and Buck is a very interesting film.
Chuck and Buck is a good film and will most probably endure in the years to come..
This is a movie for those of us who appreciate black, discomforting humor, the kind of humor that acknowledges both the morbid and absurd dimensions of life; as such, it follows along a path blazed by other such dark films as IF, SWEETIE, HAPPINESS, WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, BLUE VELVET, THE CABLE GUY, THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, as well as the brilliant documentaries of Errol Morris and Fredrick Wiseman, to name just a few.It's also my favorite movie of the year so far.CHUCK AND BUCK's dark edge comes squarely from the character of Buck, brilliantly played by Mike White.
There is a simple joy in going to see a film that is totally against the grain of standard movie fare -- true independent cinema as gritty as the video Chuck & Buck is shot on.
Buck is not a homosexual, not in the classical sense, but rather an emotional child who knows only of sex as a "game," like the ones he used to play (or was forced to play) with Chuck.
This is extraordinarily hard to achieve, especially with the taboo subjects the film explores.Who is more "real," the man-child Buck or the work-obsessed Chuck?
Just be thankful Mike White produced such a uniquely original script with a bevy of intriguing characters that make this film entertaining and thought-provoking -- no matter what those thoughts may be..
The film is funny in many places, but for me, it was mostly a drama.I've never seen a movie quite like this before.
I haven't seen too many movies recently that have said anything...either positive or negative...After seeing "Chuck and Buck" I realized what kind of pure mass entertainment Hollywood outs out....they wouldn't touch this film with a ten foot pole, it's not ever going to play for the mall N'Sync crowd that's for sure.
One thing is for sure, Chuck & Buck is not a Hollywood movie.
When it was over, I felt like seeing the movie over again.I loved it, and can't wait for it to come out so my friends can see it too.
What follows, for the other hour and twenty-nine minutes, will disturb, entertain, and even shock you at times.Buck is wonderfully played by Mike White in his acting debut.
He embodies this rich character suffering from an outlandish case of arrested development.Also wonderful is Lupe Ontiveros, working with what she was given, as the director of Buck's chilling allegorical play, humorously titled Hank and Frank.Chris Weitz (also in his debut here) waits for his last two scenes to deliver a worthwhile performance, but when he does, you can definitely tell he can deliver.Filled with a haunting soundtrack of syrupy silly melodies and frightening scenes, Whites script will keep your attention by merely making you ask yourself how Buck will get past his newest social obstacle.
This movie is in fact pretty much built just for people that like movies that illicit real responses out of the audience and put them in situations where they are constantly asking themselves, "If that was me..." Rarely have I experienced a movie that makes me feel so uncomfortable watching - horror movies have the typical shock value, thrillers will give you the suspenseful moments...
It's all about the characters.Granted, there are some weak parts to the film (the often mentioned "resolving" near the end, a few strange scenes that don't seem to go anywhere), but they are FAR outweighed by the originality of the plot, the almost perfect way of framing Buck as a stunted individual, and even the emptiness of LA as a background.Now if you're one of those people who finds movies that make you think to be arduous, or movies that put you in a place you're not expecting to be horrible, you will hate this film.
It perhaps can be viewed that way, but it is really the tragedy of Buck obsessed with his childhood friend Chuck.
He is powerless to look elsewhere for love.The movie does not have a Hollywood ending, nothing particularly resolved, just like real life, with a little hope of better things to come.Buck has some minor mental problem.
Chuck and Buck a very good weird movie..
Brimming over with supreme discomfort and true love, the movie has been unfairly denounced in some circles for equating homosexuality with infantilism and dementia, which is probably the only way critics could think of to get back at the film for making them feel so creepy and weird.
I watched "Chuck and Buck" last night for the first time.The DVD cover presents this film as a comedy, but I found it deeply disturbing.
I didn't do either.First, the good: the performance of Mike White, playing Buck, is truly amazing.
This is the failure of "Chuck & Buck," and it's what makes the film irresponsible and frankly, bad.
Without a doubt, `Chuck & Buck' is the weirdest film of the year.
I can't agree at all with people that classifies "Chuck and Buck" as a gay movie.
This is the story of two childhood friends, Chuck and Buck.
Chuck & Buck is not a comedy in a funny way.
I can see how that would happen and I could see how he would have a thing for Buck his whole life.I think that many straight people cannot get the concept of this movie in my opinion-because they are not looking at it from "gay" eyes.
Perhaps one of the best, and strangest, love stories of our time is the film from the bizarre mind of Mike White.
Both Chuck & Buck and The Good Girl have clever messages revealing conceits by the end of the film.
Either way, the main character is grotesquely creepy and ugly; the high-definition picture looks more like I am watching a home movie or a bootlegged tape and is distracting/annoying.
An Indie Gem. Chuck and Buck has all the ingredients of an indie gem: a good, yet offbeat story, quirky, but real characters, and here, an account of childhood lost and remembered that is as visceral as it is bizarre and as realistic as it is pathetic.Mike White is exemplary as a man obsessed with reuniting with his long lost friend, the latter who has grown up and established himself, the former, still stuck in a childhood fantasyland that he yearns to keep alive.The film runs a range of emotions, yet always rings true.
I believe some people think they need to "appreciate" and "understand" a movie like this to prove that they are the true connoisseurs of independent films.
You are either Chuck or Buck, whether you want to admit it or not.The acting is oddly compelling, and the story line is very funny.
And the acting by the two leads, Chris Weitz (as Chuck) and Mike White (as Buck) is good and strong and it takes risks that Hollywood wouldn't.This is Arteta's second film, his first being the oddly compelling "Star Maps".
"Chuck and Buck" is a good second feature and I hope with a better budget, Arteta can make a really great film that will get more exposure.
But the miracle of this film is how it can take someone like Buck, a socially and emotionally retarded obsessive/compulsive with no apparent redeeming qualities, and make him into a sympathetic character by the end of the movie.