The Great Buck Howard (2008)

The only things I've seen Colin Hanks in were King Kong (2005) and W. (2008), and his roles were small and forgettable. Frankly, I don't think he was up to the task of this otherwise fun tale of Troy, the assistant to the clueless, self-obsessed "mentalist" of the title, played by the brilliant John Malkovich (my faves are Dangerous Liaisons (1988), The Object of Beauty (1991), Art School Confidential (2006), and, of course, Being John Malkovich (1999)). It reminded me of a show I saw one night in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. Roseanne Barr assembled the best backup band money could buy and played for one night at The Mint on Pico Blvd. It was entertaining, and she didn't howl like she did the national anthem at that baseball game, but she still couldn't sing. 

Hanks' daddy, Tom, producing with his regular partner Gary Goetzman, did everything he could for his son, but the kid doesn't have Dad's acting chops. I kept wondering what it would have been like with someone more dynamic in the lead role. That's not to say I hated it (and, to Colin's defense, what I considered blandness Jack saw as ennui that was part of the character). The production values were high, the story was good, I always like seeing Griffin Dunne (all of the following are worth watching: he was producer of Head Over Heels aka Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979), Running on Empty (1988), and White Palace (1990); producer/director of Fierce People (2005); and producer/star of After Hours (1985)) albeit in a cameo, and sparkle was contributed by Emily Blunt (Sunshine Cleaning), Adam Scott (HBO's Tell Me You Love Me), Tom Hanks as Troy's dad, and a series of stars playing themselves.

We saw this on vacation, and made our first visit to the new Landmark Theatre in the Westside Pavilion, coincidentally also on Pico in LA. It was shown in the "screening lounge." Instead of rocker seats, it had black leather armchairs and love seats, each a step higher than the one before, with small tables between them. It probably seated about 50-60 people. Nice bonus!