Butter (2012)

Wonderful character development!

Overrated

A Disappointing Continuation

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This movie essentially begins with a man named "Bob Pickler" (Ty Burrell) living in the state of Iowa and being the champion 15 years in a row for his butter sculptures at the annual state fair. His wife, "Laura Pickler" (Jennifer Garner) is extremely proud of this accomplishment and plans to use it to further advance her fortunes by having Bob run for political office. But that all changes one day when the organizers of the butter carving event ask Bob not to compete this year so that others can have a chance. Naturally, being the understanding type of person he is Bob reluctantly agrees. His wife, on the other hand, is incensed and sees this as an attempt to thwart her ambitions. To that effect, she announces that she will compete in his place instead. That being said, although Laura has some artistic talent she soon becomes distressed to learn that a young black orphan by the name of "Destiny" (Yara Shahidi) has also chosen to compete--and Destiny happens to have a natural artistic ability that is quite extraordinary. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that what made this film so entertaining was the way it tended to highlight some of the attitudes of certain people living in the "Bible Belt" of America. While they may profess to being Christian their actions clearly say otherwise. Yet--even though many of these scenes were quite funny in their own right—I must admit that there were a couple of scenes that were just plain vulgar and they detracted from what could have been a truly outstanding piece of comedy and satire. Even so, I enjoyed this movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I really wouldn't rate any film 1 out of 10 very lightly. But this film is so unconvincing and superficial, that I could not do otherwise.For example, why does Bob go to a strip club? It seems completely impulsive and contrary to the history of his character depicted in great details just minutes before.Then there seems to be no coherency in Laura's character either. What was the cause of the marital problems - she seemed happy enough to have stuck it out for 15 years, so why now suddenly does she go back 360 degrees?What is the role of the stripper, apart from insisting on $600? She is not a catalyst for anything, and she does not add anything to the eventual outcome of the movie.I would like to think that an actor like Hugh Jackman is rather embarrassed about his role in the film, albeit with some real comic sense.These are just examples of the unconvincing characters and story line. The one compelling performance is by Yara Shahidi, but whose role is somehow diminished by racial jokes which seem completely out of context.Please stay clear of this one...

This movie in it an attempt to be non-p.c. makes ALL kinds of grotesque generalizations and stereotypes. It is so filled with grotesqueries that frankly it made it a struggle to sit through. I did sit through it though...just to see if it could and would redeem itself. It doesn't.Perhaps there are people and places that are this ridiculous but let's say for the sake of comedic exaggeration, it's sloppy gratuitous, disjointed and all over the place. In the end, the sentimental and gooey moralism tries to tie it all together but it falls flat and makes it more banal than it's already worked itself up to be. A a tragic piece of work from writers who have no real message and a director who has clearly gotten lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with talented people. Don't waste your time with this.

I didn't have high hopes for this film but what I saw was a terrible film. From the reviews, I expected some nastiness but this script quickly entered the realm of utterly distasteful and nonsensical/absurd. The first 10 minutes or so were good. The film seemed to hold promise for actually being good. But then the plot line became sick, with numerous non sequiturs. Four-letter words are flung without a proper context having been laid. It's like the writers had an inkling of a good idea but were not creative enough to carry it off. Who is so stupid as to sign off on a project like this? And Jennifer Garner was that desperate for money?For writers who lack the imagination, the story of the REAL butter lady from the Iowa State Fair would have made for a good movie without even trying.