Uncle Buck
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"How would you like to spend the next several nights wondering if your crazy, out-of-work, bum uncle will shave your head while you sleep?" |
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What do you get when you have a family emergency, and the only person available to watch the kids is John Candy? You get Uncle Buck.
The titular character in this John Hughes picture is Buck Russell, an overweight loser with commitment issues. When his sister-in-law's father has a heart attack, he is called on to watch his brother's children, including teenage Deadpan Snarker Tia. Hilarity Ensues.
Much of said hilarity comes from Buck's repeated encounters with Tia's boyfriend, Bug. Buck knows Bug is just using her, and pretends to be Ax Crazy for Bug's benefit. Tia decides that This Means War. When not trying to save Tia from herself, Buck cooks giant pancakes, punches out drunken clowns and tries to fix his on-again-off-again relationship with his old flame. All this builds to a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming in which Buck must choose between freedom and responsibility. Macaulay Culkin's performance as Tia's little brother will remind many viewers of Home Alone, and for good reason: it inspired the movie.
- The Alleged Car / Cool Car: Buck's jalopy (he calls it "The Beast"), which backfires like clockwork. It becomes cool when we see what's in the trunk.
- Ax Crazy: Buck plays this to the hilt for Bug's benefit.
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Bug: Ever heard of a tune-up? Beh-hee-hee-hee-hee! |
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- An Axe to Grind: Buck threatens Bug by talking about a hatchet he keeps. Tia thinks he's just bluffing. Buck then takes the hatchet out for them to see.
- Badass: Buck. Only he could threaten people with power tools and peg them with golf balls, and get away with it.
- Badass Longcoat: Buck's tweed overcoat, perfect for crashing house parties and other Crazy Awesome deeds.
- Bait and Switch: Buck drops an expensive plate. Obviously it'll shatter into a million pieces, right? Wrong. It stays in one piece, until Buck whacks it against the piano.
- Beauty Mark: Inverted; the assistant principal's mole is anything but beautiful.
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- Bedmate Reveal: When Buck bursts in on Bug at the house party. He goes ahead with it anyway.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Buck appears at first to be a fat, shy goof; but mess with his nieces/nephew and you better start quivering...
- Bumbling Dad: The children's father isn't really in the film enough to qualify either way, but Buck fulfills this trope to a T (for "Trope").
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Buck wears one when menacing Bug. So creepy, it borders on a Slasher Smile.
- Cool Hat: Someone tries to steal it at the house party.
- Cool Uncle: The basic premise.
- Constantly Curious: Miles
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Don't eat Buck's breakfast. Although it's never actually stated that it's bad... Tia turns it down because she's being a bitch, and Miles seems shocked to see something different (an appropriately kidlike reaction). The sole mentioned aspect of it is that he put onions in the scrambled eggs.
- It actually seems rather averted. Miles is thrilled by the giant pancakes he makes.
- Date Rape Averted: Skirting a fine line between rape and seduction, but she clearly tells him to stop and he flat-out ignores her.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tia has made this her hobby. Buck comes a close second.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Tia at the end.
- Elephant's Child: At one point Buck asks Myles what his record for questions asked is.
- Emotionless Girl: Again, Tia.
- Exploding Closet: Variant: Just opening the door doesn't do it, but when Buck reaches for something inside the closet the typical avalanche ensues.
- Gentle Giant: Sure, he's pretty scary if you're a heartless educator or a besotted party clown or a punk, but just watch the scene where Buck tries to convince Maizy she can't sleep in his bed. D'awwwwww.
- Hard Head: Bowling balls just bounce right off.
- Ignore the Disability: Buck introducing himself as "Buck Melanoma, Moley Russell's wart." See Beauty Mark, above.
- Insult Backfire
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Tia: His name is Bug. |
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- Leitmotif: Try not to bob your head along to Buck's, especially the nice long section of it you get as he walks into the elementary school. I dare you.
- Meaningful Name: Bug. He scurries away when the light comes on, and if you saw him on your floor you'd probably step on him.
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"You're not a gnat, are you, Bug? Bug. Gnat. Is there a similarity there? I think there is!" |
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- Monster Clown: A mild example; more of a thoroughly soused, foul-mouthed clown. Not that it keeps Buck from kicking his ass.
- Nice Hat: Buck has a few.
- Noodle Incident: "I want to apologize about your bushes. I had no idea that they would all catch on fire like that."
- Not So Different: Buck admits he was just like Bug in his youth, and the two have extremely similar names.
- Not What It Looks Like: Buck is just trying to fix the washing machine, but it doesn't look (or sound) like that to the nosey neighbor.
- Papa Wolf: Buck is this to all of the kids, but especially Tia.
- Percussive Maintenance: Buck trying to fix the washing machine by kicking it, all the while swearing a blue streak.
- Precision F-Strike: When Buck knocks the pots and pans down at the end. SHIT!
- Recycled: the Series : There were plans for an Uncle Buck television series, revolving around Buck getting full custody of the kids after their parents die in a car accident (though you wouldn't know it with how happy they all look).
- Slasher Smile: Just look at the picture, for God's sake.
- What Does She See in Him?: What does Tia see in Bug, anyway? Somewhat justified in that All Girls Want Bad Boys and she's rebelling against her parents.
- The Windy City: It's a John Hughes film, right?
- Chicago actually wasn't the first choice. John Hughes intended to shoot the film in St. Louis but was forced to move the shoot to Chicago due to an unseasonably warm winter.