Every family has its proverbial black sheep – the one relative that embarrasses the adults at family picnics and gives the youngsters nightmares of painful pinched cheeks.

For the Russell family this character is Uncle Buck, a very rotund and sloppy man played appropriately by John Candy.

As Mr. and Mrs. Russell must leave town for a family emergency they find themselves stuck for someone to watch their kids, young Miles and Maizy, and rebel teen daughter, Tia.

Uncle Buck comes to the rescue. He arrives in the Russells’ upper-class suburb in a beat-up car, wearing beat-up clothes, and chomping on a smelly cigar.

At first little Miles and Maizy don’t know what to make of an uncle they’ve never even met, but Buck soon wins them over with his eccentric manner. Tia, however, quickly realizes that Uncle Buck will cramp her rebellious style, and most of the movie revolves around this problem.

Tia and her uncle engage in a battle of the wills, although Buck is more clever in the ways he manages to foil Tia’s plans.

Uncle Buck is definitely one of John Candy’s better movies as he has a chance to portray a character reminiscent of his SCTV zaniness. However, the movie has an ending that is too cheesy and tidy, and as a result loses some of its impact as a great comedy film.

Uncle Buck is full of funny scenes, however, and on that note is definitely a movie worth seeing.