Lee Daniels' The Butler

[Atreides]

They could have called it White House: Black Butler!

[SApril]

Aug 19, 2013 12:07:46 GMT -4 Neurochick said:

Aug 16, 2013 23:42:20 GMT -4 GoldenFleece said:

The MPAA has some sort of agreement with all the major studios about movie titles and there are often behind-the-scenes trades of rights/properties between the studios when a studio wants to re-use a title, but it's all settled way ahead of time and never blows up into a big media brouhaha. That apparently didn't happen with The Butler, so WB, which had the rights to a short film from the silent era also called The Butler, raised a stink and the arbitrator ruled in their favor, so The Weinstein Co. had to tack on Lee Daniels' name to the title or risk millions in fines.

Shit, now that just sounds petty. A silent film? I bet nobody's even alive who saw that film. I don't believe it's a classic, like, Intolerance. It's most likely sitting in the bottom of someone's file drawer or birdcage.

I think it had more to do with everybody hates Harvey Weinstein, and this was a way of sticking it to him.

[GirlyGhoul]

I rather like the title as it is now. Something simply called "The Butler" could be a Rob Schnider vehicle as just easily as it could be a high class sweeping period drama.

[bklynred]

Aug 20, 2013 14:00:06 GMT -4 GirlyGhoul said:

I rather like the title as it is now. Something simply called "The Butler" could be a Rob Schnider vehicle as just easily as it could be a high class sweeping period drama.

Rob Schneider, hee! Tyler Perry might be grinding his teeth at night, but I agree, it does elevate it.

[forever1267]

It was good but it was very Forrest Gumpy, in that it touches on important events of the 20th century without getting too deep about them. The movie also gets overwhelmed by the parade of movie stars, and Oprah herself, whose personality dominates over the quiet, subtle Forest Whitaker. A good history lesson to prove that we really haven't come a long way, baby.

[prisma]

Forrest Gump was exactly what I was thinking. One of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes says "It doesn't have enough confidence in its story without introducing various heavy-handed gimmicks to manipulate audience emotion." I thought Forrest Whitaker's performance was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of everything else they tried to pack in.

[Deleted]

It just felt to me like Daniels' was more interested in telling the story of the Civil Rights movement and not so much the story of the butler. Which was plenty interesting on it's own, without all the changes.

The pacing was way off too. He spent a ton of time in the 60s while he just sort of glossed over the mid to late 70s and 80s and basically ignored the Ford and Carter administrations.

[memememe76]

I saw this tonight. I thought it was quite. I agree with the above complaints, but I thought all the performances were on point. Forrest was great, but I was really impressed by Oprah. I like the sensual colours the film added to the character in the movie, and I thought Oprah was convincing in those parts. I really bought their relationship. Also, the son, Louis, was excellent.

I didn't realize Robin Williams was in this movie. Seeing him and Forrest in the same scene (who were also in Good Morning Vietnam) caused a bit of a heartache in me.

[narm]

I watched it this morning and cried when I saw Robin Williams. Hormones, you are so awesome.

I liked it. It was rather Forrest Gumpy but I cried again at the end when he went to meet Obama. I think Oprah is a very good actress, which always surprises me as she has such a huge personality/presence. I actually forgot I was watching Oprah.

John Cusack, however, did not lose me for a minute. Loooooved Jane Fonda. Lenny is still so dreamy.

[Wenton]

Watched this again and I still love it. Even if it reminds me that Alex Pettyfer, dreamy on the outside, is likely an asswipe.

The lack of Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton is my only other gripe.