The Butler

Saw The Butler last night. It was okay. Forest Whitaker was good. The best parts of the film are in the middle, around the period of the 60s. But the script isn't great, and the melodramatic turns and twists – particularly toward the end, with father and son – seem a bit forced. Didn't like Snape playing Reagan: the guy couldn't come close to the voice. Also, the “cinematic license” part of the film seems too framework-oriented. Reminds me of the way Ron Howard did Nixon. An example would be the start of the film, which has the main character seeing his mother violated by a slave owner and his father shot, all while he picks cotton. Yet, the true person in history who worked for 34 years in the White House, retiring as head buter (Eugene Allen), was born in 1919. This cinematic episode would have been happening around the great depression, but you don't ever get that sense in the film. It seems like nothing more than a negative stereotype for an 1800s southern plantation. The question is whether, in the director's mind, the episode displays crime or the way American life is arranged. This kind of stuff goes on throughout the film. I think there's only one Caucasian portrayed as helping in the civil rights movement. Nothing about Bobby Kennedy being shot, or his idealism. In short, I think the film's imagination isn't diverse enough. Grade: B.