Gay Best Friend: Buck (Mike White) in "Chuck & Buck" (2000)
Monday, August 2, 2021 at 10:33AM A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope
Before his successful career took off, Mike White wrote and starred in the indie comic-thriller "Chuck & Buck."Mike White is an incredible talent. Currently on HBO, his miniseries The White Lotus has become a must-see weekly event. Between Enlightened, School of Rock, Beatriz at Dinner and impressive seasons on Survivor and The Amazing Race, White has been a great fixture of film and TV over the past couple decades. In honor of The White Lotus success, we thought we would travel back in time to one of his earliest performances and screenplays - Chuck and Buck.
The early digital film feels like a relic of another time, especially compared to White’s more polished HBO work as of late. The advent of digital allowed more filmmakers a chance to tell their stories as they were able to do it on the cheap. Much of Chuck and Buck looks like a painfully awkward home movie. Yet, that only heightens the discomfort one feels while watching this odd, comic thriller.