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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 popcornreel on Twitter 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.      

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