Film

Uncle Buck (1989)

Director: John Hughes

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Tia (Kelly) is an unlovely specimen, her face fixed in a scowl of post-pubescent parent-hating, generated by mom's inattentiveness. When granny has a heart attack, mom and dad rush to her bedside, leaving the kids in the care of the family's black sheep, Uncle Buck (Candy). While the younger brats soon take to the slobby, loveable newcomer, Buck and Tia swiftly settle down to a war of attrition (he demobilises her dating power by fending off suitors with axes and power-drills, she throws a spanner in his affair with Amy Madigan). It's clear from the outset that by the time the parents return all will be reconciled; what is unclear is quite why this formulaic film fails to click, providing only interludes of satisfying Candy comicry amid the peculiarly meandering plot expositions. Set piece scenes arrive without warning and depart without conclusion, notably a painfully unfunny interview with a pimpled school principal in which crass 'don't-mention-the-melonoma' jokes fly thick and fast. Candy still raises laughs simply by playing himself, but the film is a heavy weight for even his imposing form to carry.

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