Review of The Butler (2013) by Angelo Dean B — 17 Aug 2014

Starring Forrest Whitaker in a role which seemed to have an interesting concept to it, Lee Daniels' The Butler sounded like an interesting experience.

Lee Daniels' The Butler sounded interesting on the surface because of the idea that it shows an African American man living through so much history as he experiences the events transpiring in America in depth through a close view of how it all unfolds in the White house. Unfortunately, it does prove to succumb to many narrative flaws along the way though.

One of the central issues about Lee Daniels' The Butler is the scope of ambition in the story. It tries to be a tale about the many presidents who served in the White house, the way that racial politics changed in the many years of the pre-2000's decades and the fictional Cecil Gaines' own experiences with all of it as he attempted to live out his own life. So it has a lot to tell, but it never really keeps its focus solely on one. This means that Lee Daniels' The Butler ends up being a very scattershot affair with the main message of the film being somewhat ambiguous, and despite the fact that Lee Daniels is able to tie up the loose ends to a certain extent, he still ends up leaving the film loose in a lot of parts.

There is a distinctive tone of familiarity in Lee Daniels' The Butler. As the film is about a fictional character yet inspired by a true story and based on a series of real-life events, it follows a very similar premise as the film Forrest Gump. The only difference is that Forrest Gump's story was a lot more about him growing up and triumphing over adversity in society whereas The Butler is a lot more focused on the reality of the social situations in society. It is hard to be sure of where it specifically focuses because there is so much of a story to tell in The Butler, but it largely proves to be too much. The Butler tries to be more than just the same basic civil rights film that has been seen countless times before, most of the time in a Spike Lee film, but it ends up succumbing to the same level of sentimentality and melodrama that many of them did without producing the same powerful effect on audiences. The Butler turns a lot of its real-life historical figures into thin characters who only make the most minor impact on the film and its story development which degrades their historical importance, and so as the story went on I essentially forgot they had ever had a presence in the story. The most key example was Richard Nixon whose appearance in the film was so brief that his relevance to the American White house and society in general was barely explained whatsoever, not to mention the fact that John Cusack looked essentially nothing like him. In short, Lee Daniels' The Butler presumes that viewers already have a deep understanding of American history before seeing the film, and so for people like me who have only received a loose education about it mainly through the world of cinema, it can prove confusing and shallow in terms of historical storytelling. I appreciate what Lee Daniels really wanted to do with the film and commend him for making the effort, but the material just ends up being scattered which means that it doesn't have as much depth as it wants and so its integration of true stories and fictional elements is rough and ineffective. Lee Daniels' The Butler simply did not touch my emotions or teach me anything, so it came off as a film which was too subtle to leave much of an impression on me, regardless of how much it tried.

Some of the scenes in Lee Daniels' The Butler are refreshingly dramatic, but as a whole there are too many which I have lived through before in other films to a much superior dramatic effect, and they simultaneously distracted from the film's focus on characterizing Cecil Gaines while also using them more to show how they affected him than actually how they changed the world. The film can never really decide what it wants to do with all of the American history present in the story, and so despite a script which has a lot of intelligent language, it is unable to fairly handle all of the concepts presented. It had the proper heart when it came to chronicling the development of African-American rights in American Society, but there is so much more to it that Lee Daniels just could not get a grip on, and so Lee Daniels' The Butler ends up being a slow, long and dull feature with the best intentions but improper narrative.

The cast of the film is the primary reason it is good in any retrospect.

Forrest Whitaker is the perfect lead as Cecil Gaines because he has a legacy for constantly acting with a certain level of stoicism to him which suggests a level of unprojected wisdom to him. As the story goes on, we see more and more of that being projected and so his character development is really good. Forrest Whitaker's line delivery is firmly consistent with intelligent strength and passion for the material because he gets himself emotionally involved with the material easily and carries the entire story on his shoulder well.

Oprah Winfrey is a nice addition to the cast as well because she has spent years making herself a likable person on her television show, and so seeing her return to such a high profile acting role is terrfic. While her character is not as complex as she should be for the sake of the story, Oprah Winfrey's natural charm in the part works to make sure that her character is a compelling one. Oprah Winfrey is a nice presence.

Cuba Gooding Jr. is a great cast member in Lee Daniels' The Butler because he uses his naturally likable persona to maek the film more lighthearted in nature and enjoyable during moments when it is less melodramatic. He is easily enjoyable in the part because he goes back on his naturally enjoyable charisma which made him a great actor in the first place and injects that into his supporting role in Lee Daniels' The Butler to ensure that his screen time is impressive. Cuba Gooding Jr. is a great presence in the film.

Alan Rickman was spot on as Ronald Regan because he looked the part perfectly, and while the film did not fully explain his relevance to history, his part in the role was terrific as he made a likable figure out of the character and shared an enjoyable chemistry with Forrest Whitaker. Alan Rickman was the standout in the cast because he played an important historical figure with such realism and natural acting skill, and he really made the film more compelling.

But despite a good cast and the best intentions, Lee Daniels' The Butler is a rather uninvolving and unfocused story which uneasily treads a line between reality and fiction while failing to be entertaining in the process.