Uncle Buck Should Have Had a Bigger Crowd

On Tuesday night, I took in a screening of Uncle Buck at the Kendall Square Cinema.

I decided to attend based on my recent experience seeing the John Candy documentary I Like Me last month at the Shubert Theatre. On that evening there was a sold-out crowd. 

Alas, when I went to see Uncle Buck there couldn't have been more than half a dozen people in the theatre. The low turnout really surprised and disappointed me in view of the big crowd at the Shubert last month. Perhaps that owed more to Ryan Reynolds than to John Candy. In which case, that is a real shame. A comedy like Uncle Buck needs an audience.

I remember seeing Uncle Buck in theatres when it was released in August 1989. At the time, my family was visiting Ottawa on the occasion of my maternal grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. While in Ottawa, my cousin Carmen took my siblings and I to see Uncle Buck. 

At the time I watched it, I thought there were some parts of the movie which were contrived and cringey such as the mother/daughter hug near its conclusion. Overall, however, it was a very funny film, and Candy was in fine form both comedically and dramatically. Macaulay Culkin, all of 8-years-old, possessed an enormous charisma powerful enough to carry Home Alone the following year. After seeing Gaby Hoffmann play Bruce Springsteen's mother last month, it was nice to see her paired with Culkin as brother and sister. Both had a great dynamic with Candy. 

There is also a scene where Buck visits his niece's elementary school to talk with the vice-principal (the one with the mole). Before talking with the vice-principal, Candy is outside the office and sitting beside a young child and providing him with reassurance without a hint of condescension. Under the circumstances, it is easy to see why Candy had such a strong rapport with children.

In the film, the titular character is much maligned and misunderstood. In the hands of another actor such a character might prove to be insufferably annoying. But with Candy there is a sweetness, caring and a willingness to protect his nieces and nephew at all costs up to including placing a predator bound and gagged into the back of his trunk. 

John Candy died less than five years after the release of Uncle Buck. Had he lived, Candy would have very likely made more movies and conceivably would have evolved into more dramatic roles which may have earned him Academy Award consideration. Absent a fuller body of work, a case can be made that Uncle Buck was John Candy's most definitive work and greatest legacy.