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Wednesday, October 10, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW
Butter
Spinning The Tale Of Opportunity And Family
Yara Shahidi as Destiny in Jim Field Smith's comic satire "Butter".
The Weinstein Company
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Wednesday, October
10,
2012
Jim Field Smith's comic satire
"Butter" is the kind of film that might have been better suited for theatrical
release in the 1990s. "Election" and "Bulworth", similar satirical movies
about aspiration and drive, were released during that decade and both were
effective at being provocative. "Butter", about a young black orphan girl
Destiny (Yara Shahidi) taken in by several white families in Iowa, centers on
Laura Pickler (Jennifer Garner), the bitter, ambitious wife of a multi-year
butter-sculpting champion Bob (Ty Burrell), a sanctimonious, hapless sort.
Jason Micallef wrote the screenplay for "Butter", which spends an inordinate
amount of time focusing on Laura's competitive appetites, Bob's adultery, and a
prostitute's affairs with at least two members of the Pickler family.
Despite its incidents "Butter" lacks the sensationalism as a satire that it
seems to be reaching for. The film is a muted experience, flat and unfunny
even with the comic talents of Rob Corddry ("Hot Tub Time Machine") as one of
Destiny's foster parents. "Butter", which made me salivate with the
feeling of sodium welling up in my mouth from the sight of the butter sculpting
on display, is an otherwise forgettable exercise.
The film's function, to explore what makes a family, comes across fairly clearly
beneath the farce. Specifically, the idea that the family you are born
into is sometimes much worse and more dysfunctional than the surrogate family or
step-family some are part of. To an extent, Mr. Field Smith undermines
such a point by keeping the elephant in the room, Destiny -- largely sidelined
but for small, skit-type episodes -- under wraps until the film's final 30
minutes, when her story emerges most prominently. The director and
screenwriter seem to backdoor Destiny, supplying her with snappy cultural,
social commentary and humor but without a real core. Destiny is more
mascot than mettle, though played well by Ms. Shahidi in a winning performance.
Ms. Garner is amusing playing a tightly-wound character, and Olivia Wilde shows
up here in a wild turn as a prostitute. Hugh Jackman has a small role.
Everyone is either playing an amped up or reticent character but each appears to
barely contain the winks and smiles in their onscreen alter egos. The real
star of this show however, is not any of the humans on display, or any political
statements or parallels the filmmakers may have attempted, but that melting
butter.
Also with: Ashley Greene, Alicia Silverstone, Kristen Schaal, Pruitt Taylor
Vince, Dodie Brown, Phyllis Smith.
"Butter" is rated
R by the Motion
Picture Association Of America for language and sexual content.
The film's running time is one hour and 30 minutes.
COPYRIGHT 2012. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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