This is the first Lee Daniels film I have seen, and that's due to me wanting to see no parts of Precious and having no desire to watch Nicole Kidman pee on someone in Paperboy. I was assured by the media and Hollywood that he was a competent director, after all Mo'Nique won the Oscar for her performance in that movie. That means he must have done something right, right? Well I don';t know about that, and him being a good director may be true, but he's weak as far as being a good storyteller goes in my book. His version of The Butler (there was another movie entitled The Butler which was released back in 1916, the studio holding the rights to that film, Warner Bros. fought to keep Lee Daniels film from being called The Butler. Hence his name being put in front), is a stretch across time. The movie starts in 1926 and ends when President Obama wins back in 2008. Between those two years, this movie tells the tale of Cecil Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker who gives an excellent performance. It's just too bad he was saddled with uninspired direction and a crappy screenplay.
I state Lee Daniels direction was uninspired for a few reasons. If you're going to make a movie about a butler in the White House, make it about the man, NOT the job. Yeah, yeah I know the job is impressive and all that, getting to work in the White House is nothing to sneeze at, but everyone is aware of what a butlers job is. I could care less about him polishing the silver or gold flatware, I want to know about the man, and I feel this movie did very little in introducing me to the man Cecil Gaines is. There's nothing regarding how he met his wife Gloria Gaines, the movie jump cuts to an already established family. You get told how they met but that's it. This was the prime chance to show the dichotomy in the man at home, with his family and the man at work and Lee Daniels dropped the ball.
Cecil's mother Hattie Pearl, played by Mariah Carey is constantly raped and eventually goes crazy, or so the audience is led to believe, by the plantation owner Thomas Westfall, played by Alex Pettyfer. Cecil's dad Earl, played by one time rapper turned actor David Banner gets murdered for standing up this one time for his wife and Alex's mother Annabeth Westfall, played by Vanessa Redgrave decides to make Cecil a house n****r since his parents are no longer any good. This where he's taught the very valuable lessons on how to serve properly. Cecil eventually runs away, heads north, finds a wife, has two sons, and is working at a hotel as a butler. The relationship between Cecil and his oldest son, Louis played by David Oyelowo, is far more nuanced than the relationship he has with his youngest son Charlie Gaines, played by Elijah Kelley, and to say that there was any relationship at all between father and sons is a stretch. The extent of their relationship is seen in the trailer, there isn't much beyond that.
I don't know if this project was just far too ambitious for Lee Daniels skill set but this movie left me wanting. Not wanting more, but wanting less. This movie in my opinion lacked any real focus, it was all over the place and the only real significant historical Black figure that was not mentioned, or the movement he was involved with was Malcolm X. I thought it was a stretch to have a White House butlers son sitting in the hotel room with Dr. King, I also thought it was unnecessary to follow the exploits of the oldest son while ignoring the youngest son. Especially when the youngest sons story was more tragic, more gripping, and more real. Based on the life of Eugene Allen, the actual man who Forest Whitaker is supposed to be embodying, most of what's on the screen is made up. Eugene Allen only had one son and his wife, Helene Allen supposedly rarely drank. Yet this movie felt it needed to add more to the story, as if being a Black butler in the White House during the time when Civil Rights were being fought for in this country wasn't a gripping enough on it's own.
I hope this movie does well, I truly do, and I am happy I saw it but don't be surprised if you walk out feeling a little hollow. This movie may leave you a little hungry, for less. See you at the theater.
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