Review of Black or White (2015) by Bev K — 31 Jan 2015

"Black or White" is a movie that explores the intricacies of the family law system and custody disputes that arise when a member of the nuclear family dies. Kevin Costner plays a widower in the film who is caring for his multi-racial grand-daughter after both her mother and grandmother have passed away.

Octavia Spencer plays the paternal grandmother who is suing for full custody, with the deadbeat crack addict dad thrown into the mix to complicate things. Though I felt the editing in this film was choppy, I felt it was overcome by a strong performance by Kevin Costner, and a tender, compelling storyline that generated strong emotion in the audience.

This film is not stylistically perfect, but it has a lot of heart and really hits home where it needs to. Some of the monologues are overblown, but Costner really shows his acting prowess in this film and really gets immersed in his character who is battling such demons as anger, cynicism, and alcoholism.

Costner's character flirts with disaster at several points in the film but shows what a good man he is through and through. This film tugged at my heartstrings, and I thought it all played out on a very human and realistic level.

I honestly do believe that the sympathetic characters in the film brought the movie to the level it got to ---------------------------------------------------------- B+.