Lee Daniels' The Butler Review

3.0 Stars

Lee Daniels' The Butler stars Forest Whitaker as White House Butler Cecil Gaines. Gaines grew up in the 1920's as a sharecropper and is offered a position as butler in the White House in the 1950's.  A model of professionalism and discretion, Gaines' career spanned several decades allowing him to serve under several Presidents, witness the effects of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and other significant events in the history of the United States.  While America struggles with these issues, Cecil struggles at home with family issues.  His wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) battles her addictions and his son Louis (David Oyelowo) defiantly strives to find justice in the world. 

The Butler was a bit of a let down.  I know it was based on a true story, but I felt the way the story was told was very unbalanced.  There were so many times when they were focused on Cecil's work in the White House that I was wondering how this would affect his family and there were just as many times when the focus switched to his family life that I found myself longing to see him more in the White House.  Though Forest Whitaker gave an amazing performance, quite possibly Oscar-nominating worthy, I felt the film dragged. 

The Butler featured a veritable who's who of Hollywood's A-list actors that really didn't get publicized in previews.  One of the ways I knew this was moving slowly was that I was more intrigued by the "game" of who is going to make a guest appearance next.  Like JFK, the Oceans Trilogy and The Departed, every actor shy of Kevin Bacon seemed to get in on the action of this movie.  Mariah Carey and Oprah Winfrey starred as Gaines' family.  Vanessa Redgrave as slave owner Annabeth Westfall.  Terrence Howard lived next door and Gaines worked with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Lenny Kravitz in the White House.  James Marsden and Minka Kelly played John and Jackie Kennedy, Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda appeared as Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Liev Shreiber was Lyndon B. Johnson, John Cusack played Richard Nixon and Robin Williams portrayed Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

This movie had all the potential in the world to be an Oscar contender for Best Film.  I'm not sure what went wrong with all the star power they had working for them, but for me, it was not all it could or should have been.  It was an original concept, but poorly executed.  I gave The Butler 3 stars as I did enjoy it, but this will not be making it to my DVD collection.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.

Lee Daniels' The Butler Preview

Lee Daniels' The Butler stars Forest Whitaker as White House Butler Cecil Gaines. Gaines grew up in the 1920's as a sharecropper and is offered a position as butler in the White House in the 1950's.  A model of professionalism and discretion, Gaines' career spanned several decades allowing him to serve under several Presidents, witness the effects of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and other significant events in the history of the United States.  While America struggles with these issues, Cecil struggles at home with family issues.  His wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) battles her addictions and his son Louis (David Oyelowo) defiantly strives to find justice in the world.  

The Butler is a look at some hard but formative years in the shaping of the United States from the 1950's to the 1980's. Running at over two hours long, not a lot of action seems to drive this movie, but rather it's a look at American history through the eyes of this humble butler.  When done right, these are the types of movies that become Oscar Nominated films.  When done wrong, these movies drag on and on and the viewer is begging for the end credits to roll.  Oscar-winning movies Argo and Lincoln are two such movies.  Both are a look into a specific time in history and both were gripping stories which brilliant character portrayals and superb dialogue that didn't need explosive action to keep the film moving.  And if anyone can pull off the demands of a movie like this, it would be Oscar-Winner (The Last King of Scotland, 2007) Forest Whitaker.  

I predict The Butler will be a moving and epic story of America's History as told by White House butler Gaines.  I predict tears and cheers with solid and Oscar-worthy performances from the cast.  Look for this movie to not only rake it in at the box office, but to at least be nominated for several Academy Awards.  I predict a 4.0 rating, well worth the money and likely to make my DVD collection.  Am I right?  We shall see.