From teenaged models to anti-wrinkle cream, we live in a world that worships youth. This weirdly comic film strips off the gloss of youthful beauty to explore the darker side of childhood and ask what happens when the wilful, needy child within refuses to grow up.
Chuck (Weitz) and Buck (White) meet at Buck's mother's funeral. They were once best friends but haven't seen each other since they were 11. Their lives have taken different paths. Chuck is now a sophisticated high-flying record executive in LA. Buck is still stuck with the mind of a child, out in nowheres-ville USA, sucking lollipops.
All alone after his mother's death, Buck becomes determined to renew his childhood friendship with Chuck. Trying to initiate affection the only way he knows, Buck gropes Chuck in an attempt to re-kindle their furtive pre-adolescent homosexuality. Chuck is appalled and leaves, but Buck won't give up and moves to LA. Their subsequent encounters oscillate between hilarity and clammy nausea as Buck's obsession develops into full-blown stalking.
Shot with all the squirming intimacy of digital video, Chuck and Buck ask us awkward questions about our taboos. White's portrayal of Buck inspires both sympathy and a cold shudder and this is certainly one of the most disturbingly funny films of the year.
You won't laugh out loud but you will find an infectious and increasingly narcissistic giggle rippling through the audience as the film slowly reveals more and more of the ugly humour in life.
Visit the official .
Read a review of the DVD.