The Great Buck Howard
Written and Directed by Sean McGinly
Starring John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, Adam Scott, Ricky Jay, Tom Hanks, Steve Zahn, George Takei, Griffin Dunne

The production mantle of Tom Hanks' Playtone weighs heavily on the second film from Sean McGinly ("Two Days"), which takes a unique and more skewed look at show business than other Sundance films like Barry Levinson's "What Just Happened?" and "The Deal," but it's clearly a movie that thrives on the simplicity of its premise and its straightforward storytelling.

We're introduced to Colin Hanks' Troy through a clever opening sequence where we learn that he went to law school to appease his father, only to drop out to become a writer when he realized he wasn't happy. He accepts a job as the personal assistant and road manager of "The Great Buck Howard," a flamboyant stage mentalist long past his heyday on "The Tonight Show" (the Johnny Carson one) and completely out-of-touch with how things work in the entertaining business as he tours the country playing mostly empty houses. Buck is quite a character, his schtick including a trademark arm-flailing handshake, but as much as he creates this instantly likable persona, the real Buck Howard is a temperamental taskmaster who takes out his aggressions on Troy. The climax of every one of Buck's shows involves him trying to find his payment for the gig, hidden in the audience by members, and it's an amazing "effect" that no one can figure out, but ready for his big comeback, Buck decides to try a new "effect" in Cincinatti that will make the world pay attention. Just as Troy has had enough of Buck's temper tantrums, along comes Emily Blunt as a press agent from New York, who Buck immediately detests when she takes an immediate liking to Buck's ambitious assistant.

As much as I try to avoid hyperbole, this may be John Malkovich's best role and performance, maybe of his career, cut from a similar cloth as Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada." Wearing a silvery toupe, Malkovich really throws himself into this character, creating an incredibly dynamic and infectious personality, that keeps you riveted to every single thing he says and does. You can't help but laugh at his tantrums and every time he says one of his recurring catch phrases like "I love this town!" and "Isn't that wild?" Even though some might see Howard as one big joke, there's also a sadness to the character in his inability to deal with his lost fame, made more obvious by the many testimonials from those in the industry who have been influenced and inspired by Howard's performances over the years.

The younger Hanks ends up playing the straight man to Malkovich, and it's not much of a stretch for an actor who has never shown a lot of range. Other characters that add to the mix include Steve Zahn as a local hick who Buck has to endure while in Cincinatti and a brief appearance by Adam Scott as Troy's lecherous predecessor, while producer (and Colin's real father) Tom makes an obvious appearance as Troy's disapproving father.

McGinley has found a way to thrust us into Buck's world and get the viewer swept up in in Buck and Troy's journey in a way that you never get bored, especially when Buck finally returns to the limelight and appears on modern talk shows like "The Daily Show" and "Live with Regis and Kelly" spouting many now familiar "Buckisms." In some ways, the movie's like Billy Crystal's "Mr. Saturday Night" (one of my favorite comedies about that aspect of show business) but McGinley does an impressive job making it look like a major studio production without losing the integrity of being an independent film.

Sure, there's a lot of obvious feel-good plot developments but otherwise, this is a wonderfully refreshing and original film, one that could really go far if picked up by the right studio and given the loving kid gloves it requires to find its audience, which will generally be older moviegoers, although the buzz about Malkovich's character should help build some nice word-of-mouth.

Rating: 9/10

Hamlet 2
Directed by Andrew Fleming; Written by Andrew Fleming and Pam Brady
Starring Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue, Marshall Bell, Melonie Diaz, Joseph Julian Soria, Skylar Astin, Phoebe Strole

"Hamlet 2" could possibly be the strangest comedy ever made and it boggles the mind that this could come from the same director as Hollywood movies like "The In-Laws" and "Nancy Drew," although Andrew Fleming must have had a freak flag in hiding that only came to the fore when he teamed with Pam Brady of "South Park" and "Team America."

We're introduced to Steve Coogan's Dana Marschz via a series of commercials and television appearances back in his heyday as an actor, but now, he's living in Tucscon, Arizona, where he works as a high school drama teacher "for gas money"--he rides rollerskates everywhere--adapting Hollywood blockbusters like "Erin Brockovich" to the stage. In order to appease his biggest critic, the school paper's ninth grade reporter, Dana decides to create his own original production, a musical sequel to Shakespeare's "Hamlet" involving time travel to get around the fact that all of the characters died at the end of the original. The original work also gives Dana a chance to deal with his lifelong "daddy issues." Unfortunately, the school has had enough of Dana's antics and are going to shut down the drama program before he can stage his masterpiece, and Dana's home life isn't doing much better as his angry alcoholic wife (Catherine Keener) still can't believe that she actually married this guy, who many people presume is gay from his behavior.

"Hamlet 2" is outrageously funny but it does require a certain type of sense of humor and the ability to laugh at very odd behavior and situations, which makes it a bit like "The Ten." Dana is clearly one of Coogan's most outlandish and outrageous characters, played it so over-the-top that at times, he's annoying as Mike Myers at his worst, but as the movie progresses, you really start to love him. In the same sense, some of the gags are so inanely stupid that you might feel like punching yourself in the face for laughing at some of them, especially some of the broader physical humor. Yet laugh you will, because it's so amazing where the movie goes and just as you think that it can't get any more insane, it proves you wrong, like when the tough gangbanger Octavio's parents disapprove of their son being involved in the musical.

While most of the movie's laughs belong to Coogan, he has a great young cast including the ever-present Melonie Diaz to bring their own dynamics to the table, whether it's Dana's two over-eager returning students, played by Skylar Astin and Phoebe Stroll, or Joseph Julian Soria as the tough gang-banger Octavio. David Arquette's character, a border named Gary, seems to serve very little purpose except to propagate a later plot turn, and for the most part, he barely says a single word, while Amy Poehler shows up later as a lawyer from the ACLU who will do anything to help the show go on, and she may have some of the best lines in the movie, many of which give away the co-writer's "South Park" roots. Oh, and then there's Elizabeth Shue as herself, having apparently given up showbiz to work as a nurse at a sperm bank. (Please don't ask.)

The movie starts off with such a lo-fi indie ethos that one might really wonder how Fleming was able to work in such a way with his big movie background, but over the course of the movie, the production values improve dramatically building to the climactic performance of Dana's tour-de-force musical. The songs are immediately reminiscent of some of the funnier numbers from the "South Park" movie and "Team America" with the high point being the "Grease" inspired "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus." (Dana himself plays the part of Jesus Christ.)

Sure, the whole thing is ludicrous--like how do the students get the money to put on such a huge production?--but sometimes, you just have to turn off your brain and allow yourself to laugh, and "Hamlet 2" offers so many opportunities to do so that you might leave the theatre wondering whose minds were more twisted and demented, those who wrote this movie, or your own?

Rating: 8/10

(As we were writing this review, it was reported that Focus Features has picked up distribution rights for Fleming's comedy and while they have a lot of hilarious material to work from when creating commercials and trailers, they may have their work cut out trying to get this movie to the audience that will appreciate it, since it's not nearly as accessible as "The Great Buck Howard.")

Incidentally, we also caught a screening at the Library of Paul Schneider's Pretty Bird, which features Billy Crudup playing a similarly outrageous character, and it was pretty awful. Not sure if I'll bother with a full review since I saw it so late at night and could barely keep myself awake.