The movie is set in 1960's Mississippi and revolves around a privileged white girl, Emma Stone, who sets out to further her own civil rights activism by writing a book about the 'colored' help, from their perspective. It also includes Allison Janney, Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer, and Bryce Dallas Howard in it's eclectic cast.
The plot obviously was going to deal with some heavy issues however it kept things light-hearted for the most part. Instead of getting deep into the harsh realities of this time period, it kept things in line with it's PG13 rating. Hopefully that decision will resonate with the younger audience who are getting detached from this part of our history. The main character was quite likable although some of her attempted development in the plot fell short in my eyes, I think the focus should have been spent on just the book and dropped her other subplots. Some of the other characters blended into each other and honestly I got Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, and Anna Camp's characters mixed up throughout the whole time. Perhaps I was very tired when watching or maybe the characters were too similar. The time the plot spent with the help characters was the best parts of the plot. The plot seemed to reinforce the idea that the upper class characters were in fact the less civilized too much that it became redundant. There were some nice anecdotes and some touchy subjects that the plot brought up however again it kept a wholesome and light-hearted tone throughout. Unfortunately most of the characters were one-dimensional and not very complex.
Obviously the set design, wardrobe, and makeup were paramount in this film. The movie had the glowy picture perfect feeling of the (early) 1960's. It was definitely a romanticized movie and the cinematography matched that.
Viola Davis fully deserves her leading actress nomination. She did a fantastic job of playing this dichotomy of subservient in one setting and powerful in another. You could feel the emotion just oozing out of the screen during the scenes where she talks about her son. It was a great performance. Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer have also been nominated for their roles as supporting actresses in this. They both provided much of the comic relief in the movie. By the second half of the movie, I could distinguish Chastain from the others. She was definitely believable in her role and was a refreshing break from rest of the upper class characters. Spencer also provided much of the comic relief on the other side of the plot and was much more ferocious than Davis, but she pales in comparison because her character didn't have as much moving material to work with. I think both of these ladies did nice jobs with their roles. Emma Stone was really great in her role as well. It was nice to see her in something a little different although she still was the Emma Stone we've come to know and love. I think it was a great decision for her to take on this film.
In the end, it still felt a little too wholesome and light-hearted even though it dealt with some heavy issues. It just didn't get too deep into those issues. I enjoyed the movie as it was entertaining, even if the characters weren't too complex, except for maybe Davis'. I think perhaps my feeling about the wholesomeness of the movie could be related to the fact that I took several courses and read numerous books about this subject that dove head first into the heavy issues. Perhaps someone who has a working knowledge of this time period would find this a deeper movie, such as the younger PG13 audience. Also I may be overlooking the fact that the goal of the movie was to provide this type of look into the past. "Pay to the order: Two Slice Hilly".
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