The Butler

It turns out The Butler isn’t the big screen adaptation of the life and times of Geoffrey from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” Instead it’s the much more serious, and real, account of Cecil Gaines. Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker, was born into slavery and worked his way up to become a White House butler serving under eight different presidents. Those presidents are all portrayed by different well-known actors in an often strange guessing game presented to the audience. John Cusack as Richard Nixon, is the strangest one. The plot follows Gaines and his family through the Civil Rights Movement and a number of other important historical events in a timeline through 20th century American history.

Whitaker shows his ability as a strong actor by developing his character through a number of difficult situations. He’s more believable as the middle aged version of Gaines than he is the young 20-something, but that’s probably because Whitaker is 52 years old. David Oyelowo plays the main character’s son, who becomes a Civil Rights activist progressing through the different movements. They include marching with Martin Luther King Jr. and dipping his toes in the Black Panther Party. This role allows for an emotional performance that leaves him sympathetic while being one of the main causes of drama in the story.

The film addresses a number of serious and personal topics to Americans who lived through the powerful moments depicted in the film. But the presidential acting choices mentioned earlier take the focus off of Whitaker’s character and on to the roulette of big names. Robin Williams, James Marsden, Liev Schreiber and Alan Rickman also play the commanders in chief. It also must be noted that the script does a great job of keeping things a-political for the first two acts, making the moments about the characters and the events not the ideology. But this shifts when Rickman’s Ronal Reagan takes office and a strange back and forth ensues where the story seesaws between how the character and the audience should view the conservative leader. It’s by far the clumsiest portion of the film. But The Butler is overwhelmingly a strong presentation of American history through the eyes of a likeable, unsung hero. With a strong script and quality lead performances, it is strange there is so much weight put on the supporting role casting.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.