Review of The Butler (2013) by Orlando O — 18 Jan 2014
Lee Daniels' The Butler is a crucial era loosely based on the life of Euqene Allen as he works as a White house butler for 34 years. It could have been a good historical fiction drama film if it was not for the uneven narration and some tacky make up work.
Cecil (Forest Whitaker) served as a butler in the white house for eight American Presidents following the dramatic elements of civil rights movement and the struggles of trying to live a free life with how it affected his family.
Lee Daniels' film does have great performances from a ginormous cast of Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr. Terrence Howard, Alan Rickman, Robin Williams, James Marsdan, Lenny Kravitz, and David Oyelowo.
The movie does lack of an even narration of the story. It may feel rushed in the beginning of Cecil learning to be a house butler in his young adult years and than more years go by when he is all of a sudden married to Gloria (Oprah Winfrey). That is not it; the movie also focuses on Cecil and the conflict with his own oldest son Louis (David Oyelowo). Louis joining an organization movement tends to be a bothersome for Cecil. But the movie rarely focuses on the other son Charlie (Elijah Kelley) who joins the army in the Vietnam War. There was rarely any development between Cecil and his wife Gloria. When Gloria becomes an alcoholic and has an affair, it is really not much of an impact to the story since most of her moments are really brief on screen.
It is nice to see Cecil going through many presidential terms and seeing different actors playing a certain president from Robin Williams, John Cusack, Liev Schreiber, Alan Rickman, and James Marsden. It is difficult to find the movie inspirational in a way if most of the development of the characters were very brief. The make up work as the characters grew older was also a bit tacky and very noticeable.
Lee Daniels' The Butler is an okay historical drama film. It shows the struggle Cecil went through to keep his family safe during a harsh time.
This review of The Butler (2013) was written by Orlando O on 18 Jan 2014.
The Butler has generally received positive reviews.
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