By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 0.5 cats
Director: Jim Field Smith
Starring: Alicia Silverstone | Ashley Greene | Hugh Jackman | Jennifer Garner | Olivia Wilde | Rob Corddry | Ty Burrell
Country: united_states
Year: 2012
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1349451/
Matt says: “Everyone involved with the production of BUTTER no doubt wanted to make a funny and moving film about butter carving, politics, and obsessive competition. Unfortunately, all that hard work has churned out a product as dull, tasteless, and wholly unappealing as 200 pounds of the titular substance. What Jim Field Smith’s film lacks in charm, wit, and intelligence, it attempts to compensate for with smug, juvenile ‘satire’ of Middle America, crudeness, and unearned sentimentality. This ensures there are no laughs to be found, even from reliable comic talents.
“Laura Pickler (Jennifer Garner) is a conservative, Type A housewife in small-town Iowa obsessed with her public image. Her husband, Bob (Ty Burrell), wins the state butter carving competition every year. When Bob decides to put his carving knife in the drawer permanently, Laura decides to enter the contest herself. Her dreams of artery-clogging glory threaten to be melting away when she faces a challenger in the unexpected form of Destiny (Shahidi), a precocious ten-year-old orphan who happens to be the Da Vinci of butter sculptures, because that’s what the plot necessitates.
“Every character in BUTTER is a hollow, one-note stereotype of one variety or another. Laura is a thinly veiled Sarah Palin stand-in, prone to ignorance ‘won’t someone think of the children?’ moralizing, and public speaking gaffes. Garner inhabits the role with appropriate coldness, but Laura is such a tiresome caricature that her performance is limited by default. She exists solely to give the movie an on-screen target for its predictably condescending shots at rural folks, Christians, and Republicans. Burrell seems quite bored, though it’s hard to fault him. He’s better than this and he knows it. Bob’s infidelity brings pretty Goth stripper Brooke (Olivia Wilde) into the picture. Wilde is having fun here, but the script blatantly has no idea what to do with her. While the odd bond she strikes with Destiny is amusing at least in theory, her scenes with Bob and Laura’s lesbian daughter Kaitlen (Ashley Greene) are outright painful. Kaitlen was probably just included for the purpose of a gratuitous girl-on-girl sex scene, because the writing for the character is the worst in the film. Her teen angst comes off as irritating rather than relatable, and her clingy obsession with Brooke is just creepy.
“If the movie has a strength, it’s Rob Corddry as Destiny’s progressive foster dad. Corddry is perpetually likable and an interesting story could be told about their relationship. Sadly, BUTTER doesn’t care about that. It instead chooses to spend time with plot points that stretch credibility and useless side characters. (Why does Hugh Jackman cameo as a used car salesman? I don’t know and I’m not sure Jim Field Smith knows either.) As a result, the obligatory tearjerker moments in the third act fall flat. On the bright side, devoted butter fans will be glad to know their favorite unhealthy toast topping is given prominent display. BUTTER is the movie of Paula Deen’s dreams, but everyone else would be wise to steer clear. 0.5 Cats”