Uncle Buck

Bob and Cindy Russell have a problem, Cindy's father has taken a turn for the worse and they have to visit as it may be the last time they get.
Unable to find a sitter to look after their 3 children, they're forced into calling Bob's brother, a lazy, good for nothing slacker.
They're extremely uncomfortable, especially Cindy, with leaving the kids under Buck's care... but they have no choice...

... so they call Uncle Buck, and just hope that the house is still in one piece and the dog is still alive when they get back...

Another John Hughes comedy for the collection, Uncle Buck is an incredibly realised, immensely funny and heartwarming tale of family, morals, life lessons and, at times, basic slapstick.

For a start, the premise is very simple, but Hughes and the cast have built on the simple plot and created some of the most memorable scenes in cinema history.
Most of the humour is mainly down to John Candy and his character's fish-out-of-water shenanigans and yet, when he decides to take charge of his situation in his own personal way, his character really comes to life and even more comedy takes place.

The screenplay is pretty formulaic, broken home (almost) with the eldest kid being a tearaway but being 'shown the light' and the overall learning curve of a guy who's out of his depth etc... but it's the humour involved and the fact that everyone involved seems to have enjoyed themselves that lifts the screenplay and plot magnificently.

There's also the scenes of more serious filmmaking too, especially with the morals and life lessons I mentioned a minute ago.
Mainly based around relationships with boyfriends, girlfriends, in-laws, family etc but it's still nicely pieced together and is really quite touching at times too.
Buck's treatment of Tia's boyfriend is definitely a highlight of the movie and one that most uncles and parents can associate with!

The overall acting involved is also pretty good.
John Candy is definitely at his best as Buck. He's engaging, funny and has a superb chemistry with everyone who is on screen with him. As usual with Candy, he's able to play the serious side of things wonderfully too.
Jean Louisa Kelly as the eldest kid called Tia is also good in the role. She's a tearaway with a chip on her shoulder and really plays it very, very well. She has little to no humour with her character, but she plays off well against John Candy.

Macaulay Culkin and Gaby Hoffmann as twins Miles and Maizy are also on top form. Culkin in particular has a massive chemistry with Candy and the two little actors really make for good humour too.

Back up comes from Amy Madigan, Jay Underwood and Laurie Metcalf.

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All in all, not much else to say about the film... still though, it's flat out funny from start to end, has some fine acting, some great comedic dialogue, occasional slapstick and a good spoonful of emotional content thrown in too.
Top 80s comedy.

My rating: 90%