First Hit: I rather enjoyed this light hearted film which loosely mimics some of the Amazing Kreskin’s life.
In this film Buck Howard is played by John Malkovich who has more than enough ego to satisfy the role and its requirements.
Howard is a mentalist and who was invited on to the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 61 times is seen playing a circuit of small towns like Bakersfield in half full houses, but the crowd who comes to see him, love him and are enthralled. He does a combination of magic tricks, hypnosis, and mentalist tricks like guessing a number between 1 and 100 as written down by one of the audience members.
However his coup de grace is when the audience hides his performance fee and he comes out from his dressing room, where he is being watched by two audience members, and finds the money. He has performed this trick successfully all his career; this is his signature trick.
The film moves along with the introduction of Troy, his new personal assistant played by Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks who makes a couple of appearances in the film as Troy’s father). The story of Buck is told through the eyes of Troy and when he meets press promotion person Valerie Brennan (Played by Emily Blunt) both Buck and Troy’s lives are changed subtly.
This film is about change, doing what we love to do, chances, and acceptance.
Sean McGinly both wrote and directed this film with a real taste and feel for letting the characters breathe. He didn’t let the audience get caught up in sentimentality and it was also a reminder of letting me not forget that there were odd and interesting people like the Amazing Kreskin whom I loved watching on Johnny Carson’s show.
Overall: I liked the film for its lightness and nostalgia without being too much of either.