Review of Spinning Into Butter (2009) by Lord N — 24 Mar 2011

I saw this film for my Theater in Film class.

While the film is undeniably well intentioned, that only goes so far for a film. It does what it sets out to do, but it doesn't do it incredibly well.

Acting/Characters: In terms of characters, there is nothing here that hasn't been seen before a million times. The characters here ask the same questions about racism that films such as Crash, Do the Right Thing, and To Kill A Mockingbird do. They just don't do it as well. The characters aren't as well done as they could be. The acting overall of the film is pretty laughable. But like with most bad acting films (not all by any means) that is the fault of the screenwriter. They want to do well with their performances I know they do, they just can't. 3/10.

Plot: Like I said before, there's nothing in here that isn't done better in films like Crash or Do the Right Thing. Its pretty predictable overall. Even the ending. It tries very hard to ask the right questions and for all intents and purposes it does. I don't think that they tried as hard as they could to answer them. To me, they just point out the problems. Maybe they do because there is no real solution. Racism is a pins and needles issue with no definitive answer. So, I guess I can't bash them too much for not answering the questions they ask. It's a thoroughly predictable plot that we've seen many times before. It has great intentions, but little merit beyond that. 3.5/10.

Screenplay: yeah, this was the worst part of the film. I mean, the screenplay was written by the writer of the original stage play so I should have expected that it would be better than it was. My theater in film teacher said that there are differences between the script of the movie and the script of the play. Maybe the script for the play was better. If so why didn't you stick to it!? *sigh* 1.5/10.

Likableness: I didn't particularly enjoy this film. It was mildly interesting and was well intentioned, but it had no real merits outside of that. This isn't a movie I would suggest to anyone. If oyu want to watch a movie like this, watch Do The Right Thing. That movie was excellent. 2.5/10.

Final Score: 10.5/40 26% (S).

I couldn't find any TRIVIA TIME stuff for this movie. That makes it even worse.