Went to see Buck and Chuck, a low budget indie written by Mike White. He also played one of the title roles, Buck, a child-man of 27 years age who is fixated on his best childhood friend, Chuck. Chuck has grown-up to become Charlie, a tough LA music agent with a beautiful girlfriend and a nice house.
Buck lives with his mom, and his room is that of an eleven year old. Nothing seems to beckon him into adulthood. When his mom dies, the two friends meet again at her funeral. Buck's obsession with Chuck leads him to Los Angeles in pursuit of Chuck, who was mildly amused at the beginning, but finds Buck annoying.
From the beginning of their reunion, Buck tells us that his friendship with Chuck was not platonic. As young boys, there was a sexual dimension to it, something else that Chuck is not willing to re-visit. It is the driving force in Buck's pursuit of him.
Since White is the son of Mel White, former ghostwriter for Oliver North, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, it seems obvious that one might ask if Mike White is equating homosexuality with arrested development, at least on some metaphorical plain. Or is he using the almost fable-like character of Buck to make some commentary on the Chucks of the world, a busy young man who says over and over that he is no longer the boy back there in suburbia that Buck still loves.
In some ways, B&G remind me of La Vie in Rose, the Belgium movie about the young trans child, particularly in its feeling for both the innocence and pain of childhood sexuality.
Its cheap budget makes this film look incredibly flat, but since many shots are flashbacks, the home movie quality adds to the feel of the story.
