Marquee Attraction: The Help
Release Date: August 10, 2011
Budget: $25 million
Domestic Box Office Gross: $169,708,112
Worldwide Box Office Gross: $221,802,186
Plot Synopsis
Skeeter is home from college and wants to become a writer. However, this is the 1960s, in Mississippi, and the racial tensions, and the civil rights campaign is putting the southern citizens on edge.
Initially welcomed home by her family and friends, Skeeter decides to interview some of the black maids of local prominent families. Skeeter’s discussions with Aibileen lead to other discussions with other maids like Minny.
Soon Skeeter has enough material to write a book, and with the details of the maids, Skeeter publishes her book and her Minny, and Aibileen face the repercussions from a very powerful and angry Hilly Holbrook.
With civil rights on the horizon, and more importantly embarrassing knowledge that would humiliate and ruin Hilly, Skeeter and the maids are able to survive and thrive.
Standing Ovation
Emma Stone is great as Skeeter. Her work is essential for making this movie a success, and if the audience can’t identify with and connect with Skeeter, the movie is sunk. Stone is effortless and compelling.
Octavia Spencer as Minny is perfection. Spencer brings the warmth, resilience, empathy, humor, and love that Minny needs, and holds the story together thanks to her work. There is a reason that Octavia Spencer won the Oscar this year and that’s because Minny is a compelling and wonderful character that could easily have been forgotten.
Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Jessica Chastain create rich and wonderful characters that add depth and levels to the story that could be easily missed or ignored with lesser talented leads.
Time for the Hook
The Help is not a story of strong black women who survive and thrive in a world that is focused on discriminating against them. It’s about a white girl named Skeeter who finds success thanks to the help of the black maids. The labelling of a white savior is not unjust with The Help. If we had got more screen time and learned more about the maids, and saw them as the leads, then this label could have been avoided.
Bit Part Player
Leslie Jordan as Mr. Blackly. Jordan was hilarious in all roles he would take on, and while he would never be the star of the film, any scenes with Jordan would make a movie a little more special.
Did You Know?
- The film is adapted from Stockett’s popular book.
- The book was reportedly rejected by publishers 60 different times before finding a publisher.
- The director, Taylor and author Stockett, were childhood friends from Jackson, Mississippi.
- Bryce Dallas Howard was pregnant during the film’s shooting.
- Viola Davis has some regrets about the film. During an interview with The New York Times, Davis describes how she feels the film never really got the voices of the maids and what their life was really like.
- Kathryn Stockett has a cameo in the film at the 53-minute mark.
- The movie, while a box office success, has received criticism for elevating the white character of Skeeter above the maids. The Help is often used as an example of the ‘white savior’ complex that depicts films or stories about black people who need the lone white character to save them.
- The movie was nominated for four Oscars in 2012, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, and Octavia Spencer. Spencer would be the lone Oscar winner for the film.
- Spencer would also win the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for her work on the film.
- The movie grossed over $26 million on its opening weekend.
Best Quotable Line
This comes from Allison Janney’s Charlotte, “You know Hilly, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve been eating too much pie.” To understand the quote, one needs to see the type of pie that Charlotte is talking about.
Bill’s Hot Take
The movie has its thematic issues, but the fact that actors like Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis were able to springboard from this movie into prominent lead roles makes me happy, and thankful for The Help.
Casting Call
- Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark
- Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan
- Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson
- Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook
- Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote
- Allison Janney Charlotte Phelan
Production Team:
Directed by Tate Taylor
Produced by Touchstone Pictures / DreamWorks Pictures / Reliance Film & Entertainment
Written by Tate Taylor / Kathryn Stockett
My Critical Response
{Snub-Skip this Film, Lifeboat Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, Commuter Comforter-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Jaw Dropper– You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Rosebud Award– This Film is Cinema.}
The Help is an entertaining film that captures the audience’s attention from the first second to the last. It’s not a societal film that will change opinions, nor is it a pivotal movie chronicling the civil rights movie. It’s a work of fiction, labored with some facts filled with some spectacular performances.
The Help gets my Commuter Comforter award. This is the perfect film for when you are on the go.
Coming Soon
‘Touchstone and Beyond’ returns on January 5.