The Butler Movie Review (2013)

The Good: Forest Whitaker, as expected, does a great job and is probably going to be getting an Oscar award or something for this role. He truly captures the persona of African Americans born during his character's generation. Oprah Winfrey does a good job at her supporting role which gives you a nice nostalgic feeling from her performance in The Color Purple.(I smell another supporting role award too) David Oyelowo (the son) does a fair job at showing the emotional transitions people in his generation probably went through. The rest of the star studded cast delivers by simply staying in their supporting roles. Even though they were not advertised, there were many more celebrity actors than the trailer gives away. There are sprinkles of comic relief which is good because there were some pretty dramatic scenes that may make some people slightly uncomfortable.

The Bad: While it doesn't necessarily ruin the movie, it would have been a little nicer to have actors who looked like, and acted exactly like the Presidents in the film. (Save for the actor that played Reagan) Presidential impersonators are not hard to find. While the make up team did a great job at aging Forest and Oprah, they failed tremendously at aging people like Lenny Kravitz or Cuba Gooding, Jr.

The Reason: This movie explores the racial divides, not just between white america and black america, but within the black community AND its generations. The Father-Son relationship does a great job at communicating the difficult and challenging racial issues during the pre/post civil rights era. Within that relationship, they were able to show the following African American responses: 1.) To love their enemies. 2.) To fight back. 3.) To have "Two Faces". The theme of the "Two Faces" presented in the movie is a powerful one that should not be missed. Beyond that, this story was an emotional one. From a cotton farm to the White House, all while being an African American when America was literally against you for all the wrong reasons...simply amazing. This is one of those films that should be watched, not for "Black Power", but really for a sense of reflection. For those who have grandparents who may have told stories of "the struggle", this movie does an excellent job at conceptualizing it for us today. If you're not an African American, it's still an important film to watch simply because it'll help remind us of what America used to be and hopefully inspire us to continue making it into what it should be. This movie is a must watch, but just understand that it's a dramatization, inspired by true story. It's a drama that may even have some teary eyed a bit. Go watch it, and take from it what you will.


The Rating: 8/10