Lee Daniels' The Butler is the very definition of Oscar bait. The film was made simply to attract the attention of the Academy. This isn't a terrible film by any means but it is a frustrating one due to the fact that there is nothing here that suggests a film was attempting to be more than a hook for the Academy. The film is also definitive proof that great acting doesn't always make a great film. It is an expertly performed film but rather bland if you ask me. For all of its potential---the film seems to be a huge missed opportunity.
The film follows Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker)....a man who has suffered through years of oppression and gets his chance at the good life when The White House calls him to offer him a job as a butler. This is a true story of a man who overcame the odds and served as butler for eight presidents. The performances of these presidents range from skillfully underplayed (James Marsden as John F. Kennedy and Robin Williams as Dwight D. Eisenhower) to merrily and accurately over the top (Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson and John Cusack as Richard Nixon) to kind of just there (I'm sorry Alan Rickman, but your Ronald Reagan just isn't cutting it.) Considering this is a truly fascinating and inspiring story.....there's not a whole lot here to make it worth the 130 minute running time.
There are some nice turns from Cuba Gooding, JR. and Lenny Kravitz as fellow butlers and Whitaker is great here. However, actors such as Terrence Howard, David Oyelowo and Vanessa Redgrave are just kind of left in the dust. Their roles hold no significance and the entire film could have been done without them. However, even the great performances simply feel like an attempt to get the Academy's attention. Also...Oprah Winfrey as Cecil's wife, Gloria is a well written character but Winfrey makes the character seem like the most annoying human being on earth simply by acting like she generally does. The story lags so much that you start to wonder why the film needed to be over two hours.
I'm not saying this a terrible film by any means whatsoever. It's just that there's nothing to it. There are one or two individual moments in which director Lee Daniels and writer Danny Strong (who did the excellent HBO film Recount) don't try to pull in the Oscars. Those are the moments that stand out as truly excellent because they're attempting to be interesting and succeeding quite well. However, those moments are too little too late and I'm disappointed to report that I don't think Lee Daniels' The Butler should get any attention come Oscar season.
(2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for some violence and disturbing images, language, sexual material, thematic elements and smoking)
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