The White Lotus can leave you feeling uncomfy when the mood of a scene switches at any given moment, sometimes without a warning. The Season 1 conversation between Nicole (Connie Britton) and Rachel (Alexandria Daddario) begins untroubled about a fluff piece Rachel wrote about the former, before it nosedives with Nicole’s bitter reaction to it. Then there is everything that is going on with the Ratliff family in Season 3, from incest to murder-suicide fantasies. Before creating, directing, and writing the hit HBO show that is infamous for raising anxiety levels, Mark White wrote and starred in Chuck & Buck about two childhood friends who reconnect as very different adults, where one becomes a stalker and the other becomes their obsession.
What Is ‘Chuck & Buck’ About?
Chuck & Buck begins with death, like the forbidding opening minutes that kick off each season of The White Lotus, but instead of rewinding the timeline, it looks at the consequences that come afterward. Buck (White) is a man in his late twenties stuck in a state of arrested development since his early teens, when one day, his ailing mother dies, forcing the stunted young man to step into the world without any training wheels. Buck uses the funeral to reunite with his old childhood best friend, Chuck (Chris Weitz), who he hasn’t seen in decades, and while Buck hasn’t changed too much, Chuck has become a music industry executive with a fiancée.
Seeing each other again means little to Chuck, but to Buck, it reignites his crush from when they were boys. And as one does—per Buck’s logic—he becomes a stalker, desperate to relive the best moments of his childhood again, turning the movie into a precursor of the uncomfortable, wild moments seen in The White Lotus. Although White isn’t in the director’s chair for Chuck & Buck, his screenwriting is part of a career that veers wildly from lighthearted fare to this psychological story about obsession.
Mike White’s Stalker Isn’t a Monster in ‘Chuck & Buck’
White started off writing episodes for Dawson’s Creek, then went on to make the comedy classic, School of Rock, and the star vehicle for Laura Dern in the short-lived TV series Enlightened. What might come close to the darkness he puts into The White Lotus is found in Chuck & Buck, where uncomfortable humor can take a quick turn and go down a darker, stranger path. White’s performance in the lead role is unsettling, but nuanced, ensuring he never becomes a violent, monstrous figure like in classic stalker movies, be it Fatal Attraction or more horror-focused entries.
Buck keeps pushing boundaries, and it’s more than him being inept at social situations. His frequent joy of sucking on lollipops, the childhood toys he’s brought along on the trip to decorate his motel room, and his awkward behavior turn what could be a creepy guy into a tragic man-child. The rest of the characters and how they interact with this weirdo pull you into situations that constantly bring up a dilemma: when is kindness the right or wrong way to deal with someone like Buck?
‘Chuck & Buck’ Humanizes This Story of Obsession
Chris Weitz as Chuck, and Beth Colt, as his fiancée Carlyn, portray the different reactions to encountering Buck. Recognizing his old friend is attracted to him makes Chuck uneasy, but the death of Buck’s mother stops him from being too forceful in his rejections. Carlyn overlooks how Chuck feels about Buck, hoping to learn about her fiancé’s childhood, which he hardly talks about. Both don’t realize how intensely White’s character will invade their lives until it’s too late. A young Maya Rudolph even makes an appearance as Chuck’s assistant, who gets first-hand experience with Buck’s trouble in knowing how to maintain personal space. What humanizes Buck as his obsession grows is when he decides to write a play to put on at a local theater. Although it’s done to get Chuck’s attention, he ends up starting a friendship with Beverly (Lupe Ontiveros), the manager of a small theatre.
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The actress is well-known for her role in Selena as the killer of the musician, and here, Ontiveros’ straight-faced, earnest performance makes her a standout. Misunderstanding Buck’s intentions with the play, Beverly agrees to help him put it on, seeing the creativity in his story about a witch trying to separate “Frank” and “Hank” from each other. Being shot on digital video brings a harsher, rough-around-the-edge quality to Chuck & Buck, adding to the uneasy tone, so while it’s less glamorous than White Lotus, Mike White was building towards making audiences with his current series. You don’t know if you want to laugh or recoil at what happens when Buck doesn’t take the hint that the past is the past.
