If you look at the score below you can obviously tell that I didn’t like this movie and you know what, I didn’t really want to. Based on the idea of the novel and movie adaptation, I was against this movie from the start. This might be a bit unfair, but I don’t really care. This novel is a white woman’s story about black women, from the vantage point similar to Emma Stone’s character Skeeter. Kathryn Stockett had a black maid as a child (it is worthy to note that it was basically a decade after the events of the novel) which sort of inspired her to write this fictional novel. The fact that it is fiction is the main issue that I have with The Help. It’s a story about a white girl helping out the local black maids written by a white woman and directed by a white man. It just completely rings false. At the end of this movie people were delighted by the fact that Skeeter went against her racist peers and really did something to help out these maids–but it’s not real so it doesn’t matter. To me, this is the worst sort of white guilt alleviation, especially when it is perpetuated as a real step forward for racial equality. This is fake! Don’t feel better about yourself!
But beyond my personal issues, I really do not think this movie was very well crafted. It is extremely long, and rife with storylines. It somehow simultaneously drags and rushes through the plot, causing a jilted pacing. Much could have been edited out of the screenplay to make a more concise, effective movie. For instance, a barely there, and mostly unexamined relationship Skeeter has with a boyfriend is so underdeveloped I couldn’t believe they even included it in the film. None of it was really necessary although I’m sure it made more sense in the novel. A movie should not have a love interest for the sake of it.
The one aspect I can’t really argue with is that the performances in this movie are pretty top-notch. It’s hard to say who is the actual main character, the hierarchy is spread amongst several actresses. Although the obvious choice is Emma Stone, who is her usual well-acted self, she is actually more of a plot device in this film. Viola Davis gives the most solid, emotionally complex performance, while Octavia Spencer creates a balance with much of the comedic relief. Personally, I thought Bryce Dallas Howard was the most exciting performance as the ringleading racist woman of the southern town. She definitely committed to being a major bitch. Jessica Chastain plays a quirky, not-racist outcast woman who ~gets it~ because she doesn’t fit in with the rich, white ladies and befriends/employs Spencer.
While the performances are quite enjoyable, I am too turned off to really be able to appreciate this movie for what it is. None of the character’s ending resolutions really felt compelling or satisfying enough and as a result the fictional story wasn’t even worth buying into in the first place.
