Starring Mike White, Chris Weitz, Lupe Ontiveros, Beth Colt, Paul Weitz, Maya Rudolph, Mary Wigmore, Paul Sand, Gino Buccola. Written by Mike White. Directed by Miguel Arteta. Buck (White) is 27 years old and still lives with his sickly Mom. One day Mom dies, and everyone is invited, including Buck's best friend Chuck (Chris Weitz), who moved away to L.A. at 11 years old, and arrives to the funeral with his fiancee Carlyn (Colt). Chuck wants to get back home to L.A. to work at his music promotion business, but Buck wants him to stay. And we soon find out why - he has a crush on his old friend and wants to resume the "games" they used to play. Chuck is not interested, and scuttles back to L.A. with Carlyn post haste. Buck is not diswayed, and phones Chuck to visit him. Chuck does his best to blow him off, but Buck is persistent. Buck moves to a motel in L.A., and hangs out at a theatre across the street, and follows him around town and to his house. Buck eventually presents himself to Chuck and Carlyn at a restaurant, and gets invited to a party at their place. But he doesn't fit in with the more sophisticated L.A. crowd and is brushed off by Chuck. Unhappy, but still determined, he writes a thinly-veiled fairytale play which casts Chuck as the wayward friend bamboozled by the evil witch Carlyn. Buck enlists the help of the theatre stage manager (Ontiveros) to direct his play, and even casts a very incompetent actor Sam (Paul Weitz) just because he looks like Chuck. But will he persuade Chuck to see the play and would Chuck buy the play's view of events? A truly creepy film, Chuck & Buck is fearless in it's depiction of a man who stalks another as far as watching him make love to his wife in his bedroom. It refuses to hurriedly cut away as Buck follows Chuck, and presents scenes where a vulnerable Buck awkwardly and pathetically tries to insinuate himself into Chuck's life. A low budget movie filmed in grainy stalk, it is appropriately gritty in atmosphere. Buck is truly still a child in the way he thinks and acts - he holds on to his old toys and pictures of him and Chuck when they were kids. He wants what he wants, and refuses to accept that Chuck could possibly change. And the audience is never totally sure whether the seemingly benign childishness of Buck will turn violent or not. Unfortunately, the film hinges on the climax and whether you buy the climax the film presents. I really didn't - I won't divulge what that climax is, but it is in my mind not supported by the plot and characterizations that preceded it. Also on the negative side, the film suffers a lull in the middle as we see more and more stalking, and nothing much resulting from it, and not much else happening. Because the film is shown from the point of view of Buck, Buck is shown as sympathetically as possible. Carlyn is shown as liking Buck, treating him as a harmless little kid. But he's so pathetic, and Chuck is not particularly likeable either, it is hard to care about the characters. That being said, Mike White's portrayal of Buck is outstanding, and quite unique. He makes you truly believe Buck is caught in childhood, not in a boyish charming sort of way, but in the naive, very immature way he interacts with anyone over 15 years old. The Weitz brothers, who co-wrote the film Antz, are inexperienced as actors and both pretty wooden. Lupe Ontiveros provides the film with just about its only warmth as the good-hearted woman who takes Buck under her wing, acting almost as a surrogate mother to the lost boy. She describes Buck's play as a homoerotic, misogynistic love story. And that's not a bad way of describing the film itself. While daring and a unique story and presentation, I am not sufficiently impressed to recommend Chuck & Buck. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page