7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 3.7 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.1 |
John Candy stars in Uncle Buck, the outrageous comedy written and directed by John Hughes. As an idle, good-natured bachelor, Uncle Buck is the last person you would think of to watch the kids. However, during a family crisis, he is suddenly left in charge of his nephew and nieces. Unaccustomed to suburban life, fun-loving Uncle Buck soon charms his younger relatives Miles and Maizy with his hefty cooking and his new way of doing the laundry. His carefree style does not impress everyone though - especially his rebellious teenage niece, Tia, and his impatient girlfriend, Chanice. With a little bit of luck and a lot of love, Uncle Buck manages to surprise everyone in this heartwarming family comedy.
Starring: John Candy, Amy Madigan, Jean Louisa Kelly, Gaby Hoffmann, Macaulay CulkinComedy | 100% |
Family | 34% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.84:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS 2.0
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Mobile features
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
They just don't make 'em like John Candy and John Hughes anymore. A proud and talented soldier of the '80s Canadian Invasion, Candy descended on an unsuspecting American populous -- overnight it seems -- and won hearts, minds and plenty of laughs. When he died in 1994 at the young age of 43, the gruff-n-huggable comedian left behind an impressive film career, a string of comedy classics and memorable appearances, and an outstretched baton that has yet to be grabbed by someone worthy of Candy's mantle. The same could easily be said of John Hughes. While he stepped away from the camera in the early '90s to focus on (largely mediocre) screenplays, the famed filmmaker remains a pillar of 1980s pop culture. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains & Automobiles... and those are just some of the films he wrote and directed. When he died in 2009, he didn't leave behind as many box-office hits or beloved classics as Candy, but it hardly matters. The '90s and the Noughts have come and gone without anointing any decade-defining filmmakers, leaving one to wonder if Hughes was the last of his kind. Which brings us to Uncle Buck. Though not without its warts and wrinkles, the film holds up surprisingly well (especially for '80s family fare), doesn't hedge its bets on nostalgia or childhood memories alone, and stands tall as both an entertaining Candy vehicle and a capable Hughes comedy.
"He's a little out there, but he's... responsible. And he's family."
Uncle Buck stumbles with an uneven 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that prevails one minute and flounders the next. Initially, pink-tinted skintones and some obvious edge enhancement are the only major points of contention. Fine detail is surprisingly good, Hughes' wintry palette is bright and lively on the whole, black levels are deep and a crisp veneer of grain lends the picture a nice, filmic quality. Keep your eyes peeled though. A host of issues soon make their presence known. Black levels may be deep, but the moment the sun sets they become heavy, overbearing and impenetrable. Colors follow suit, growing a tad lifeless and murky. Worse, contrast falters early and often, faces frequently flush, crush becomes a prevailing issue and delineation isn't up to snuff. Slight print damage peppers the proceedings as well, as does even more noticeable ringing, intermittent flickering, minor telecine wobble and sudden spikes in the film's grainfield. Thankfully, detail remains impressive (for the most part), artifacting and banding are nowhere to be found, and other digital anomalies rarely creep out of the woodwork. At the moment, I'm teetering between a 2.5 and a 3.0... so take that as you will. Either way, approach Uncle Buck with a fair bit of caution.
As if its video transfer weren't troubling enough, Universal condemns Uncle Buck to bargain bin hell with a disappointing 384kbps DTS stereo mix. That's right. Universal has decided to sidestep lossless audio altogether, recycling a cramped and clumsy DVD-quality track sure to leave fans wondering what just happened. Dialogue is decent I suppose, even if it doesn't boast the crispness and clarity we've all come to know and love. Ira Newborn's score and the film's sound effects aren't so lucky. Inconsistent, unruly, occasionally muffled and continually pitted against each other, neither one is given an opportunity to shine and both suffer accordingly. But what the two-channel mix really lacks is finesse, an issue that becomes painfully clear as the film plows ahead.
The Blu-ray edition of Uncle Buck doesn't include any special features.
Uncle Buck isn't just another catalog comedy, it's a beloved John Candy-fan favorite; one that holds up pretty well. To see it make its Blu-ray debut with such an inferior AV presentation is a disappointment to say the least. And yet here it is: a hit-or-miss video transfer and a standard 384kbps DTS stereo mix tossed carelessly on a barebones release. Universal's ten-dollar pricepoint may take away some of the sting, but not enough.
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