Hokey script (and sometimes direction, especially of audience reactions), but a winning performance from Busey. Also Richwine is very good (along with Janis). Truly hilarious moment with stage manager (a nice spoof of the Sullivan show). Nice touch to stop before the crash, thus emphasizing his life. An awful lot of liberties taken with real events though. And Busey's memory for lyrics was like a sieve (maybe he should've written them on his hands, like John Lennon did).

The beginning of Gary Busey's madness.

Excellent.

An amazing performance by Busey as the title character, but it can't completely make up for how bland and simplistic both the direction and script are. It's neither a realistic portrayal of Buddy Holly nor exceptionally exciting. Despite this, the ensemble acting and Busey in particular still make this an entertaining, worthwhile picture throughout. They breath life and interest into many otherwise stale scenes, but it's not quite enough to call the film "good". No real punchline, either.