WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review.
This film has, for some reason, been ruling the box-office for the last few weeks fending off several new releases and is already an early best picture candidate. It will pass 100 million domestic and is probably on track for 150 million maybe more. That is very impressive for a modest film like this and its success has surely got to be a surprise. There is no doubt that this is "a women's picture". Its cast is populated with a slew of colorful, albeit simple female characterizations. You've got southern belles, some lovely (in the case of Emma Stone and Jessica Chastain) others hateful (Bryce Dallas Howard) You've got the mostly friendly and amusing older generations, (Sissy Spacek and Allison Janney) and you've got the iron willed black maids (Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer) who's trials and hardships mark the moral center of the picture. Despite the fact that this is a particular subject that hasn't really be explored in any great detail, this film doesn't really add anything groundbreaking to the conversation. Is it really any great shock that in late 50's early 60's Mississippi, blacks were treated like second class citizens? Is it really a revelation that even though they were raising generations of white couples children and grandchildren, they were underpaid, verbally abused, and forced to use different toilets? Sadly, none of this comes as any surprise and the film refuses to really touch on anything that would be deemed too unpleasant. In fact with the exception of Davis' son and an overheard physically abusive argument the most unnerving thing that happens is maybe the occasional hurtful, racist remark. It just comes off as a highly polished, somewhat sanitized version of what life must have been like for these women. I was expecting something a little more dramatically relevant then simply stating that air-headed, spoiled, ungrateful, racist twits, are in fact that. The acting is top notch however and I wouldn't be surprised if Dallas Howard, Davis, Spencer and Janney ended up at the OSCAR red carpet. Bottom line, a calculated, even manipulative film, but one that does offer its enjoyments, mostly thanks to superior acting.
There is a problem with your e-mail address and we are unable to communicate with you. Please go to My Account to update your email.
Please choose a username to sign your comments. Only letters, digits, dash - or period. Minimum 4 characters.
Your age and sex:
We publish all comments, except abusive, at our discretion.