The Great Buck Howard is much better than you’d expect of a film
produced by Tom Hanks and starring Colin Hanks, who is most famous for
being Tom Hanks’s son. It’s not just a mediocre bit of nepotism; the
movie sparkles with some really fine performances. Best of all is John
Malkovich as the titular Howard, a mentalist (never a magician: “I was
a magician when I was 3 years old, but I evolved out of that”) whose
glory days—over 60 performances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight
Show—are long past. Howard’s smile is a huge fake showbiz grin
that evokes the dumbest kind of attention seeking (it kind of resembles
Jim Carrey’s doglike, love-me smile). Howard has a huge ego, of course,
but Malkovich finds the vulnerability there, too: You feel sorry for
the guy, even as you laugh at him.
It’s freaky how much the younger Hanks, with his giant eyebrows and
intrinsic wholesomeness, has come to resemble Jimmy Stewart, but sadly
he doesn’t have any of Stewart’s charisma. As Howard’s young assistant
and road manager, Hanks flounders a bit; he’s doing solid, quiet
ensemble-level work in a leading role. He fares a bit better in his
scenes with Emily Blunt—their romance is unforced, gentle, and
decent—but her character, a publicity secretary who grates on
Howard’s nerves, doesn’t give her much to work with.
TGBH tries very hard to charm, and it often succeeds, but director
Sean McGinly doesn’t give the film the backbone it needs. The
soundtrack is often quite ingenious (especially a notably weird
appearance by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), but other times it’s as subtle
as a heart attack. The plot floats along, soufflé-light, when it
should be more substantial, and it’s aw-shucks when it should be smart.
It’s a shame to see Malkovich’s performance—a character study
that can only be described as “great”—wasted on such a weightless
lark of a film. 
“Jim Carrey’s doglike, love-me smile”
I realize it’s part of the Stranger style guide to insult dogs whenever possible, but this is beyond the pale. Show me a single dog that smiles with giant novelty teeth a la Carrey and I’ll eat my shoe.
Yes, dogs exist to give and receive affection, but even the most servile beast shows more restraint than “America’s Favorite Rubber-faced Fartsmith®”.
Wow, doglover, do you get outside much? Seriously.
Where is Seling? SELING!! Get over here! THIS is an actual, honest-to-God movie review. You might learn something!
Much better than the lame review Anthony Lane at The New Yorker did for the movie.
I liked it. The movie that is, not that hack A.L. …
John Malkovich is one of the best actors alive. That he has never won an oscar is a travesty. I will go see him in pretty much anything.