Bob and Cindy Russell and their three children, 15-year-old Tia, 8-year-old Miles, and 6-year-old Maizy, have recently moved from Indianapolis to the Chicago suburbs due to Bob's promotion. Late one night, they receive a phone call from Cindy’s aunt in Indianapolis informing them that her father has had a heart attack. They make plans to leave immediately to be with him. After hearing the news, Tia, bitter about having been forced to move, accuses Cindy of abandoning her father. Bob suggests asking his brother Buck to come and watch the children, to which Cindy objects while suggesting they ask the Nevilles. They are middle-class suburbanites, whereas Buck is unemployed. Buck lives in a small apartment in Chicago, drinks, smokes cigars, earns his living by betting on rigged horse races, and drives a dilapidated 1977 Mercury that backfires. Buck and his girlfriend Chanice have been together for eight years; she wants to get married and start a family, and Buck has grudgingly accepted a new job at her tire shop. Since the Nevilles are vacationing in Florida, Bob and Cindy have no choice but to turn to Buck. Buck cheerfully informs Chanice that he cannot start his job yet due to the family emergency. Chanice thinks Buck is trying, as usual, to lie his way out of working. Upon arriving, Buck quickly befriends Miles and Maizy, but the rebellious Tia is hostile, and the two engage in a battle of wills. When Buck meets Tia's obnoxious boyfriend, Bug, he warns her that Bug is only interested in her for sex. Buck repeatedly thwarts her plans to sneak away on dates with Bug. Over the next several days, he deals with a number of situations in comedic fashion, including taking the kids to his favorite bowling alley, making enormous pancakes for Miles' birthday, ejecting a drunk birthday clown from the property, berating the school assistant principal about her being overly strict about Maizy's behavior in class, and handling the laundry when the washing machine does not work. Eventually, Tia exacts revenge on Buck for meddling in her relationship with Bug. She causes Chanice to think Buck is cheating on her with their neighbor, Marcy. The next day, Chanice comes over to confront Buck about what she heard, which leads to the couple having an argument and Chanice leaving him. The following weekend, concerned after Tia sneaks out to a party, Buck decides to go looking for her rather than attend a horse race which would have provided him with enough money for the entire following year. He calls and begs Chanice to watch Miles and Maizy as he searches for Tia. At the party, thinking that Bug is taking advantage of her in a bedroom, he forces the door open by drilling out the lock, but walks in on Bug with another girl. After he finds Tia wandering the streets, she tearfully apologizes to him and acknowledges he was right about Bug. Buck reveals Bug, bound and gagged with duct tape in the trunk of his car. Buck lets Bug out of the trunk to apologize to her. When Bug is finally released, he threatens to sue Buck. Buck then strikes him with a few golf balls, making him retract his apology and flee. At home, Tia helps Buck reconcile with Chanice by admitting her lie, and tells Chanice that Buck would be a good husband and father. Buck also agrees to start his job at the garage. Cindy's father recovers and she and Bob return home from Indianapolis. Upon entering the house, Tia surprises her mother with a hug. Buck and Chanice then leave for Chicago, with Buck and Tia exchanging a loving goodbye wave.
The film was the first one directed, written and produced by John Hughes under a multi-picture agreement deal with Universal. Filming began on January 4, 1989 in Chicago. The company decided to keep the production facilities and locations as close as possible. The vacant New Trier High School in Northfield, Illinois was chosen for the production facility. Three of its gyms were converted into sound stages on which several sets were constructed including the two-leveled interior of the Russell House, Buck's bedroom, a corridor in the elementary school, the boys' restroom, the principal's office, a classroom, and several smaller sets. The school was also equipped to suit the needs of the cast and crew behind-the-scenes, classrooms for the young actors, offices, dressing rooms, wardrobe department, editing facilities, a special effects shop, equipment storage areas, and a projection booth. Production designer John Corso began designing the sets in October 1988 and within seven weeks his construction crew of twelve carpenters and five painters began work on the two levels of the Russell house. A colonial-style house in Evanston was chosen for the exterior of the Russell house. The exteriors and practical locations were shot in Chicago, Cicero, Skokie, Northbrook, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, and Riverwoods. Danny DeVito, Tom Cruise, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, John Travolta, Michael Keaton, George Wendt, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, Ed O'Neill and Joe Pesci were all considered for the lead role before it went to John Candy. This was Jean Louisa Kelly's first feature film.
Reception
Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has given it a "Fresh" score of 61%, based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Uncle Buck has its ups and downs, but there's undeniable comedic magic that comes from uniting John Hughes, John Candy, and a house full of precocious kids." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating, the film has a score of 51 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the movie 1.5 stars out of a possible 4, writing that Uncle Buck was unusually bitter and angry for a Hughes movie: "...Hughes is usually the master of the right note, the right line of dialogue, and this time there's an uncomfortable undercurrent in the material." The film earned $8.8 million on its opening weekend to 1,804 theatres and was placed No. 1 at the box office. Its US earnings were 18th in 1989, and the film has earned nearly $80 million worldwide since its release.
Television series
A television series was broadcast on CBS in 1990. It starred Kevin Meaney as Buck, a slob who drinks and smokes. When Bob and Cindy die in a car accident, he is named as the guardian of Tia, Miles, and Maizy. The show was not received well by TV critics. After it was moved to Friday, in an attempt by CBS to establish a comedy night there, its ratings quickly plummeted and it was canceled. In June 2016 ABC premiered a second television adaptation featuring an African-American cast with Mike Epps in the title role, James Lesure as his brother, and Nia Long as Buck's sister-in-law. It suffered a similar fate as the previous TV adaptation, as it was poorly received by critics and then cancelled after only eight episodes.
Remake
In 1991, the film was remade in Malayalam language and released as Uncle Bun.
Home media
The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1989, and on DVD in 1998 and 2003. On August 26, 2008, it appeared on the DVD box-set "John Candy Comedy Favorites Collection," along with The Great Outdoors and Going Berserk. On February 8, 2011, it was released on Blu-ray Discfor the first time, and released again on June 28, 2011 on Blu-ray with a DVD and a digital copy.
