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 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.
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