Film Review: The Great Buck Howard
In another new movie about magicians, this time, John Malkovich offers an atypical and engaging performance as magician Buck Howard, actually a mentalist, who has seen better times and is grasping for a long-needed comeback. 
The character is loosely based on the career of Kreskin. After logging some 61 appearances on the "Tonight Show" (Johnny Carson era), Buck Howard is reduced to barnstorming small towns, performing in rundown, old theaters and living off his past achievements.
Finding One's Self
Colin Hanks plays Troy Gable, a young law student who is being forced into the field by his father. After dropping out of school, he responds to an ad and becomes Howard's road manager. As Howard aims for a big event that may reignite his career, he hires a publicist played by Emily Blunt.
The first major theme plays through Hanks' character as he strives to discover himself as well as a career that he can appreciate and enjoy. This theme, as with his fondness for Blunt's character, is secondary and rather by the numbers. In fact, the romance with Blunt seems to be motivated more by plot than any seeming sparks between the characters.
Stage Personna
The film is all Malkovich's and his portrayal accurately depicts the precarious balancing act that all entertainers maintain. Beneath the confident veneer lies self doubt and insecurity, and for fading performers, brewing desperation.
The film features almost no magic, but Ricky Jay plays a key role and Tony Clark acted as the film's magic consultant. While the plot could have been about an entertainer in any field, say, comedy or music, the choice of a magician was perfect because it draws on the audience's negative perceptions about magic entertainment and magicians.
It's not a "Grapes of Wrath" or "Ghandi," but this comedy film offers a sympathetic performance with some truths. It will hit home to anyone who has stood in front of a paying audience and learned to understand and experience the old adage, "you're only as good as your last show."
More Reading:
Magic Based on Movies and Stars
"Presto" - True Pixar Magic
Film Review: The Prestige
Movie Review: The Illusionist
Comments
I’m interested in your remark in the review that “the choice of a magician was perfect because it draws on the audience’s negative perceptions about magic entertainment and magicians.” I don’t think magicians talk with each other much about these “negative impressions,” but I’m sure they exist. What exactly are they? In my own experience I find that practically ALL my family and friends roll their eyes and express distaste when magic is mentioned. A lot of people just plain don’t LIKE magic, think it is foolish, is for children only, etc. How does this make us feel? Is there any way this can be countered? Can we change their minds? How do you find audiences that DON’T feel this way?
“the choice of a magician was perfect because it draws on the audience’s negative perceptions about magic entertainment and magicians.”
You will hear bogus theories about why this is, like “the presence of all those bad magicians out there.” But there are bad singers too, and that doesn’t give music a bad name.
The real answer is, a lot of people don’t like to be fooled, because it challenges their intelligence. Of course magicians should always try to do their magic in a non-challenging, unegotistical and even self-effacing way, but the bottom line is, magicians do fool their audience (or at least they try to).
Children like magic because they haven’t developed the ego yet in regards to their intelligence. That’s why magic is seen as primarily a kid’s entertainment.
At least on the plus side, magicians don’t have to worry about being burned at the stake anymore!
As far as Kreskin, I wonder what he thinks about this film???