Reviews of Movies, TV shows & metro Detroit Restaurants

Short movie & TV show reviews and metro Detroit restaurant reviews

Monday, May 28, 2012

Movie Review: "The Help" (2011)


Prior to watching "The Help" I had a pretty good idea that I was going to like this movie. And I was right. This was one of the better movies from 2011 that I've seen. And of the movies nominated for Best Picture from 2011, this is so far the best that I've seen (I still need to see "The Artist" & "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"...I am guessing neither are as good as "The Help").

If you don't know anything about it, "The Help" is a movie based on the lives of black maids in Mississippi during the civil rights era (the 1960s) and the extreme racism they experienced. They tell their stories to a young white woman named Skeeter (Emma Stone) who plans to publish a book containing these stories.

Even though it is based on a very serious subject & many of the stories which are told are serious, this movie still has a lot of humor in it, mostly due to Octavia Spencer's character. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I am talking about, especially when I throw this quote out: "Eat my shit!"

This movie does an excellent job of portraying the difficulties black people faced during this tumultuous time in U.S. history while maintaining a high level of entertainment value. The performances in this movie are outstanding and the nominations/awards the cast members received were well-deserved. The notable performances for me were: Spencer's Minny, Stone's Skeeter, Viola Davis' Aibileen, Jessica Chastain's ditzy outcast Celia and Bryce Dallas Howard's racist Holly. I don't believe I've seen a stronger female cast ever and it's one of the strongest casts period.

As if you can't tell, I really liked "The Help"...8.5/10 stars

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