The Butler (2013)

2014-03-14

The most shocking thing about this overrated bore is that it was made by Lee Daniels, the same guy who made the most impressive movie made in the last few years, Precious (2009). It's fucking weird! It's among the most surprising things in all of my experiences watching movies. Not even a wonderful actor like Forest Whitaker pulled off a decent performance. He's embarrassing even, though not as much as Oprah Winfrey, who was supposed to be a quality actor, given her Color Purple performance (though I haven't seen that in over 10 years). Something must have gone seriously wrong. Maybe it was a troubled production?

Anyways, it's not utter trash. I liked the concept of the heroic activists being prepared for racist taunts, which was quite fresh. Not that it was particularly well-made, but that it's just something I haven't seen before in a movie. Another highlight is the character of the younger brother of the activist at the dinner table, specifically the party moment. It was beautiful. Sadly, not much else was. None of the other performances were good (and I'm not exaggerating), and the old-age make-up was even worse. Ridiculous!