Buck: Mike White	Chuck: Chris Weitz
Beverly: Lupe Ontiveros	Carlyn; Beth Colt
Sam: Paul Weitz	Jamilla: Maya Rudolph
Director: Miguel Arteta

30 Second Bottom Line: Two twenty-something friends are reunited after fifteen years, at the funeral of one's mother. Buck wants to pick up the friendship just where they left off, while Chuck wishes to continue in his adult world.

Story Line: Buck (Mike White), in his late 20's, lives in Northern California at home with his mother, just as he has for his entire life. The impression that he has a raging case of arrested development is reinforced as you see the children's toys in his bedroom. Without a word being spoken, you know something is seriously wrong with Buck.

After his mother dies, Buck writes Mike (Chris Weitz) a letter telling him of the funeral. Mike attends with his fiancee, Carlyn (Beth Colt), who in the course of finding it difficult to make conversation with Buck, uses small talk and tells him to visit them sometime when he's in Los Angeles. Chuck wants to leave, as he does not want to encourage that visit. Earlier in the evening Buck made it clear he desired to resume some boyhood sexual games, which Chuck politely dismissed.

Although Chuck returns the phone calls made by Buck inquiring about a visit to Los Angeles, the requested time is always "during a bad week or month". Finally, Buck decides to move to Los Angeles, and takes out $10,000 in cash for the trip. If there was any doubt that Buck is in another solar system, not just another planet, it's clear now.

Buck begins to stalk Chuck, and is inadvertently helped along by Carlyn when he is invited to a party at their house. During the party, Buck acts like a child whose only concern is what he wants…and what he wants is Chuck. Buck is unable to engage in small talk at the party, and when asked by a woman Carlyn introduces him to, what he does for a living, he says, "Nothing", which is the truth. She replies that he's in good company as "Lots of people are good at that in Hollywood", and it goes totally over his head. That "nobody's at home", " deer in the headlights" look is in fact Buck's reality.

After spurning Buck's calls, Chuck finally agrees to meet with him, to tell him to get lost face to face, hoping to get the message across. Buck moves into the background, but continues his stalking. He gets the idea to produce a play when he notices a small theater across the street from the office building where Chuck works. He writes a semi-autobiographical play of his childhood, with Chuck & Buck called "Hank & Frank". Buck convinces Carlyn to come to the play. After making repeated attempts to phone, Chuck's gatekeeper- secretary, Jamilla (Maya Rudolph), finally puts Buck through. Chuck hears him out and says he will think about coming.

Buck hires Beverly (Lupe Ontiveros) to direct his play. They work on casting "Hank & Frank" with children as well as adults. One of the actors selected is Sam (Paul Weitz), who plays the Hank/Chuck adult. After reading the play, Beverly observes that Buck has a problem with both men and women. But since she values her part time job, to earn $25 an hour and to be a first time director, she gives it all she's got to make the play as good as it can be. Beverly thinks that Sam is a very poor actor and insists that he is not selected. Buck however, exercises his authority to override Beverly. He selects Sam because he looks so much like Chuck. The resemblance is not a coincidence as they are brothers in real life.

After the play is over, Buck convinces Chuck to have one drink with him after a business meeting in a bar is concluded. During the conversation, Buck tells Chuck he will get out of his life, and makes him an offer that he cannot refuse.

Tell Me More About It: Being a big fan of vinyl records, with over 1,300 in my collection, Buck makes me wonder if there is some part of my development that is arrested, since this is one symbol of him being stuck in the past. Maybe it really is time for me to fully embrace my compact disk collection, and stop bragging about the better sound of vinyl. While I say this somewhat tongue in cheek, I bring it up because Chuck and Buck does take you back to your childhood, and then leaps forward a decade, thereby forcing you to look at ways you have and have not changed.

Mike White, the writer of the movie, who also plays Buck, creates suspense in this film far greater than in a good movie like What Lies Beneath (Harrison Ford). In Chuck and Buck you really don't know what is going to happen. Will Buck end up in a mental institution?; if so, will it be before or after he attacks someone? Will he attack anyone?

The performance by Mike White is one of the best of the year. He is very scary, believable, and he conveys to the audience how he feels and thinks. Chuck and Buck deals with one of my favorite expressions which is "know when to let go", and that's what this movie is really about. Many of the things that people do in their life are OK, as long as you only do it once. When one becomes mentally stuck on an event, or a way of doing things, maturing stops. Every situation presents choices. Hopefully, as Chuck & Buck make their choices, perhaps with renewed insight, and we make ours, they will be the right ones.

Mike White: "Dead Man on Campus"	Chris Weitz: "American Pie"
Lupe Ontiveros: "Selena"	Beth Colt: "Escape to the Mountain"-TV
Paul Weitz: "American Pie"-Director	Miguel Arteta: "Homicide"-TV
Maya Rudolph: "City of Angels"-TV; daughter of Minnie Riperton. In the song "Lovin You"…whey Minnie says in the fade at the end, "Maya Maya, Maya Maya", she's referring to her daughter.