THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD with Colin Hanks, John Malkovich, Emily Blunt, Ricky Jay, Tom Hanks, Steve Zahn, Jay Leno and Tom Arnold. Directed by Sean McGinly.

MUCH like its storyline about a magician and mentalist who is continuing his career well past his prime, this DVD just doesn’t seem to know when to come to an end.

It could easily have been half an hour shorter, if not more, as the most important things had already been said long before the final credits roll.

Although John Malkovich’s character may be the titular one, the film really revolves around Colin Hanks’s character, Troy Gable.

He drops out of law school, much to the horror of his dad (Colin’s real-life father, Tom Hanks) and decides to pursue a career as the road agent for Buck Howard (Malkovich).

Howard’s heyday was 40 years ago, when he used to appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but these days he is stuck playing small venues to even smaller audiences, doing the same lame act he’s been doing for years.

The only highlight of his show is the finale, where he gets an audience member to hide his fee for the night somewhere in the venue, and he uses his mental powers to locate it. He has never failed in 40 years to locate the money.

Troy tries to put up with all his boss’s strange quirks – both on stage and off – and is about to give up completely when Buck’s new press agent, Valerie (Emily Blunt) makes a huge impact on both their lives.

Having Tom and Colin Hanks play father and son on screen works well as they obviously have natural chemistry, while Malkovich is completely believable as the deluded magician.

Blunt’s character is only introduced late in the film, but she makes the most of her short amount of screen time.

The use of real-life shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Regis and Cathy-Lee and TRL, all with their real hosts, adds an element of believability to a comedy which is apparently based on an actual mentalist, The Amazing Kreskin.

Once the DVD is over, make sure you watch the deleted scenes – there’s one in particular where the main characters are picked up at a Florida airport, which is every bit as funny as the scenes in the main film.