Uncle Buck is one of those films that you either watch when you’re young and don’t understand entirely but still laugh, or you watch when you’re older and absolutely bust a gut since it’s so funny. It’s an older style of humor obviously but back in the day it worked, and to be honest it still does. The cast members have grown and gone their own ways for the most part, and at one point a TV show based on this movie was even attempted. It flopped horribly since there was no way to recreate the magic that John Candy had brought to the screen in this comedic epic that so many people tend to take for granted. If you’ve ever seen it however and someone so much as mentions the title you’ll no doubt grin as you recall the hilarity that went down when Uncle Buck came to visit for a few wild and crazy days.
Here’s what happened to the cast.
Jay Underwood – Bug
Bug was that kid that wanted you to think he didn’t care about anything and was too hip for anything other than drinking and having sex. But thankfully when Uncle Buck arrived he was put in his place pretty quickly. Off screen Jay has been in quite a few productions and is still listed as active but is now a pastor of a baptist church.
Laurie Metcalf – Marcie Dahlgren-Frost
Known mostly as Jackie, Roseanne’s hopelessly neurotic and eccentric sister, Laurie has done quite a bit with her career really but a lot of it has kind of been on the down low since she’ll show up and surprise people only to fade away again. She’s kept in the public eye quite a bit in recent years though as she was part of the Scream franchise for one movie and has done a lot of voice roles, most notably for the Toy Story franchise.
Amy Madigan – Chanice Kobolowski
Field of Dreams and The Dark Half stand out as good movies to watch with her in them, but this one was great as well. Chanice is the slightly overbearing girlfriend of Buck who wants him to start taking life seriously and include her in it. Of course that doesn’t stop her from cutting him off from contact now and again simply because he drives her nuts. With a guy like Buck you kind of have to be tough and understanding, and she’s a lot of the former but could work on the latter.
Gaby Hoffman – Maizy Russell
Maizy was that precocious little kid that you couldn’t help but love but somehow felt the need to keep your eye on too. She repeated just about everything she heard and wasn’t one to mince words when she had something to say. Gaby actually kept her career going and starred in a few notable movies and TV shows along the way but hasn’t really done anything since about 2016. She could come back eventually, who knows?
Jean Louisa Kelly – Tia Russell
Tia was the absolute worst when it came to being a person. She was mean, nasty, vindictive, and more to the point she was ready to battle Uncle Buck to the death if it came to that. Thankfully though they reconciled near the end of the movie. Jean has kept a pretty steady career between her TV and movie roles and even showed up in Mr. Holland’s Opus when she was still fairly young.
Macaulay Culkin – Miles Russell
Miles was kind of a toned-down version of Kevin from Home Alone in a way, but he was the kind of kid that asked questions non-stop or just didn’t talk. If you look at his career he’s been pretty successful despite the washed up, worn-out pictures that are shown occasionally. It would seem that he’s still very much into acting but of course he’s not the cute kid that everyone remembers.
John Candy – Buck Russell
Uncle Buck was the kind of uncle you liked but didn’t need to see on a constant basis since he was kind of a slob and didn’t really know how to react around kids on account of never having had any. But as much as it was his own actions that kept Buck away from the family it was also the fact that the family didn’t want to deal with him since he had some major behavioral issues that were kind of embarrassing. John Candy had a long and very successful career stemming from the early 70s and was one of the funniest men alive, but could also play a dramatic role with the best of them. He passed away in 1994 from a heart attack, and it was a truly sad day for anyone and everyone that had known him or watched his films.
It’s great to see that the majority of the cast are still doing well.
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