Plenty of films that have explored the relationship between two characters that were close friends at a young age only to grown apart as they entered adulthood, but there’s never been anything quite like Chuck and Buck.  The film plays like a low-budget blend of Rain Man and The Cable Guy, with a healthy dose of homosexual undertones.  In other words, it’s just the kind of film that will both delight the hearts of independent film fans and draw the ire of closed-minded politicians using the “family values” platform to win elections.

Buck (Mike White) is a twenty-seven-year-old Blow Pop addict from northern California.  To put it simply, Buck is an idiot who hasn’t successfully made the leap from childhood to adulthood.  He does and says whatever he wants without realizing the consequences.  He’d fit right in as the third wheel to Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in the sequel to Dumb and Dumber.  But Buck is a kind-hearted, innocent boob, and his character seems real, making him all the more likeable and sympathetic.

As the films opens, Buck’s mom dies (always the sign of a quality disturbing film), and he sends a letter to his friend Chuck (Chris Weitz) to let him know the funeral arrangements.  Chuck, who now goes by the name Charles, moved to Los Angeles after graduation in order to pursue a job in the music industry (he signed a band that sounds a lot like They Might Be Giants), and hasn’t seen Buck in years.  Thanks to the funeral the two old friends meet, where it becomes quite obvious that one has grown up, and one hasn’t.

You know something sinister lies ahead when Buck tries to cup Chuck’s package during a post-funeral hug.  Despite the breach in etiquette, Chuck gives his friend a vague invitation to “come visit sometime,” before he and his fiancée Carlyn (Beth Colt) hit the road back to the big city.  Being a simpleton with no living parents, Buck somehow mistakes the offer for an invitation to go to L.A. and stalk Chuck.  Armed with all of his toys and his vaporizer, he shows up unannounced at Charles’ home and place of business, embarrassing and mortifying the hip music executive in front of his smarmy new friends and business cohorts.

At first, Chuck painfully grins his way through each encounter, but his patience is obviously wearing thin.  The more he avoids Buck, the more psycho Buck becomes, eventually leading the man-child to pen a play that jumbles The Wizard of Oz with his own life story (it’s called “Frank and Hank”).  Things take some strange turns when Buck befriends the actors who portray the younger and older versions of Chuck.  Buck also gets to deliver some heart-breakingly honest lines, like “Wanna see my room?” and “You’re house is kind of old person-y.”

The acting in Buck might not be as professional as you're used to seeing, but that’s because the majority of the acting talent…well, they have no acting talent.  White, who wrote Buck, penned the dud Big Man on Campus and served as a producer on two popular television shows (Freaks and Geeks and Dawson’s Creek).  Weitz co-wrote the script to Nutty Professor 2 and produced the gross-out hit American Pie.  The two have no acting experience, and it shows.  Even Colt is an acting rookie, landing the job only after working as a producer/first assistant director on Buck helmer Miguel Arteta’s first film (Star Maps).  Buck was filmed using handheld digital cameras to add to the film’s independent look.

If it seems like Chuck’s character looks a hell of a lot like the character that plays his part in “Hank and Frank,” it’s because it’s his real life brother.  Paul Weitz, who also has no acting experience, also co-wrote Nutty 2 and directed Pie.  As a side note, Chris Weitz looks a lot like Dharma’s Greg, and White shares the same vacant stare of the lead singer in The Offspring.

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