Review of Black or White (2015) by Nathan M — 03 Feb 2015

Coming soon to ABC Family... Director Mike Binder's tale about race, family, and... substance abuse? tries hard to be something it's not. Playing out like a better-than-average Lifetime Movie, Binder's film tries to deal with some pretty heavy issues, but ends up delivering its message in a clumsy and heavy handed way. Despite some really talented actors trying to make the best of a bad script, Black or White comes off as pretty cheesy for about 90 minutes, with some solid moments of issue-themed drama thrown in.

Kevin Costner plays a cranky, old drunkard (as is explicitly stated by Octavia Spencer's character several times throughout the film) who is angry at every body in the world. But what's never clear is whether he's a racist or an alcoholic or not. There are times when you think, "Oh, he's not a racist," but then his character actually reveals that he is. His actions in the film keep coming back to say that he's not racist, he's just angry at his situation. Then there are other times where the film continues to show that he's an alcoholic, but then a character comes out and says he's just angry and the film never discredits that.

This kind of back and forward nature is indicative of what is problematic about the film as a whole. It wants to be a message film, but it can barely handle its own message, in fact, it doesn't even seem to know what its message is. It's fine to give us characters we feel conflicted about, but I can't start to feel that you feel conflicted about them too. Is Costner the good guy? The text of the film suggests he is. Sure, he has his problems, but he's just a guy making the best of a bad situation, according to the film. But is he really? I'm not so sure. It's really hard to root for him. I'm sure of who not to root for, but I'm not really ever sure who I'm supposed to root for, and this is a huge problem in the film.

But if you don't care about the themes of the film, and you're just interested in seeing a good story, you'll probably be disappointed too. The film is chock full of cliches and dumb humor throughout, and a story that feels hackneyed and tired. Sure, Anthony Mackie, Octavia Spencer, and Kevin Costner are trying to get some good moments out of these characters, but they can't do much with the bad material they're given. You can't even enjoy the look of the film, because it's just as bland as its characters.

There's about 20 minutes in the obligatory "courtroom third act" that are actually pretty decent, where it seems like Binder is making a point. Sure, he's spelling it out explicitly, but at least it's something interesting he's saying. Eventually he pulls back from all this, but for those 20 minutes, I was pretty invested. Even if the whole thing wraps up too dramatically and neatly for me to actually care, I did enjoy the little bit leading up to it.

Obviously there are plenty of people who enjoyed this film, and I bet it will have a pretty good life on cable. In fact, my whole theater was chuckling and gasping at all the moments Binder would want them to, so maybe I'm just too cynical. But I found this movie to be pretty pedantic and shallow, and even confused about its own ideas.