Review of Black or White (2015) by Manny C — 16 Mar 2015

Kevin Costner gives his all to the role of Elliott Anderson, a widowed Los Angeles lawyer who has no shortage of love for booze and self-pity. Elliott lives for his seven-year-old bi-racial granddaughter, Eloise (Jillian Estell). He and his wife had been raising the girl since their daughter died giving birth at 17.

Elliott's now determined to go it alone, until Eloise's long-absent, drug-addicted father, Reggie (Andre Holland of The Knick), comes calling, along with his mother Rowena (Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer, lovely as always) who is aiming to back him in a custody battle. Family warfare is on and no one is shy about playing the race card.

Writer-director Mike Binder, who worked wonderfully with Costner on 2005's excellent The Upside of Anger, finds himself juggling lame stereotypes and tripping up on his ambition. The contrast between Elliott's affluent life and the chaos of Rowena's household is drawn in strokes broad enough to fill a continent. But Binder is fully committed to the material, best realized in a courtroom scene in which Elliott is on the stand that makes a sharp distinction between racism and race awareness. Black Or White will likely get people talking, but it could stand to be more artfully effective.