1989 - Rated PG - 1 hr 40 min
Director: John Hughes
Starring: John Candy, Macaulay Culkin, Jean Louisa Kelly, Gaby Hoffmann, Amy Madigan, Laurie Metcalf, Jay Underwood
A John Hughes movie not centered on teenagers was a rarity, but here it is. Granted, he can't help himself completely: the teenage daughter Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly) is a particularly tough nut to crack for old Uncle Buck. She's as bitchy as Jennifer Grey in Ferris Bueller with the snobbery of Molly Ringwald in Breakfast Club. Hooray for 15-year-old girls in John Hughes' world... they're all a piece of work. Honestly, what did he have against them?
Anyway, Uncle Buck is the goofy, bachelor uncle who just can't seem to do anything right. His total fear of commitment has him wife-less, childless, job-less, and apparently life-less. When his brother needs someone to watch the kids, Buck's a last resort... but they're pretty desperate. Since this is a feel-good comedy, though, you know the uncle and the kids are both going to grow from the experience of being stuck together while Mom and Dad are gone. It's predictable, less slap-stick funny than the DVD cover would suggest, and overall very John Hughes-y. Still, not bad.
And yes, while this movie does indeed begin with a U, it's up in the J's because of how the DVD is packaged. Billed as the John Candy Collection, it's three movies on two DVDs and in one box, so we've filed it under J for ease. The other movies, Going Berserk and The Great Outdoors, are up next...
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