The Help - (August 10th, 2011): PG-13
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures (subset of Walt Disney Pictures)
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #2 with $26,044,590
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $71,340,829
Gross Revenue: $71,340,829
Production Budget: $25 million
Director: Tate Taylor
The 2011 Summer Movie Season is finally slowing down, and even though August is usually not full of offerings that will turn heads, Touchstone decided to offer up a riveting drama that would stand out against comedy or action mainstays. Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel about black maids during the early 1960s is immensely popular, and many were excited to hear that the book would be receiving a big-screen adaptation. Beyond revered source material, The Help also boasted a surprisingly strong cast, from the increasingly prevalent Emma Stone to Best Supporting Actress nominee Viola Davis, who wowed audiences with her single-scene, eleven minute-long performance in 2008’s Doubt. Add in Hollywood veterans Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek, and The Help would be sure to draw a very large audience. If anything else, this character-driven drama echoed last summer’s small-budget super-hit, The Kids Are All Right, so I was more than willing to give this newest drama a chance.
Set in early-1960s’ Jackson, Mississippi, The Help highlights the trials of African American maids making their livelihood as second-class housekeepers who, more often then not, are responsible for raising white children. The two central characters are Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer); Aibileen has suffered much heartbreak in her life and disapproves of her employer’s neglect of her own daughter, while Minny is frequently humiliated by her snooty and cruel employer, Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard). Enter Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone), a recent college graduate and aspiring writer who disapproves of the treatment of the maids despite her mother Charlotte’s (Allison Janney) dismissive attitude. Skeeter kindly approaches Aibileen and Minny to be consultants for a book from the perspective of “The Help,” but both are hesitant to challenge the established order. When Minny is humiliated and subsequently fired by Hilly, both she and Aibileen decide to take Skeeter up on her offer and shed some light on the cruel and demeaning practices that many of these Mississippi socialites would prefer stay hidden.
As was expected, easily the best part of The Help is the phenomenal acting, which brings the diverse characters to life in a thoroughly enjoyable way. As the kindhearted and aggressive Skeeter, Emma Stone moves far beyond her comedy background by illustrating a young woman’s reaction to a perceived injustice, while, at the opposite end of the spectrum, Bryce Dallas Howard defiantly showcases Hilly’s poisonous “well-meaning” bigotry, which is both shocking and shameful. Even Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek (who plays Hilly’s mother) bring a new dimension to the film: you don’t get the sense that these older women are inherently bad, they have just complacently accepted the established order. The top performances belong to Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, as they bring the anger, heartbreak, and fear that dominated this period of history to light…the audience quickly reveres the bravery that these women ultimately decide to show. These talented character showcases compliment a dynamic story, but at times, things do drag a little too slowly.
The story that is told by The Help is anything but simple, and the film does not shy away from its controversial subject matter…it is truly troubling to think that the type of behavior criticized was once thought perfectly acceptable. With such volatile themes, The Help could easily have been hopelessly depressing, but the film wisely intersperses moments of humor and levity, which are largely due to Octavia Spencer’s no-nonsense attitude. Unfortunately, I still felt like some of the narrative’s pacing was a little too slow, as the audience waits for the book’s publication and subsequent reader reaction so long that things actually start to get boring. At a two hour and seventeen minute running time, The Help is not a film that can be approached lightly, you just need to stick with it and rest assured that your persistence will be rewarded. For as strong as the rest of the elements of the film are, such a shortcoming is disappointing, but not overtly damning.
From a box office perspective, The Help has had a very unique impact…it wasn’t strong enough to earn top spot its opening weekend, but it actually gained momentum and emerged victorious in its second weekend. This rare occurrence is a unique testament to the power of word-of-mouth; it may not have been the only contributing factor, but it definitely had an influence in increasing moviegoer presence at the theater. With a domestic total of over $71 million so far, Hollywood execs have to be thrilled with The Help’s performance; not only has the modest $25 million production budget been more than fully recovered, but the film will undeniably resurface during awards season. It also cannot hurt that no big drama is set to be released in the near-future, so The Help is unlikely to face any significant competition during the notoriously weak month of September. It may not be perfect, but The Help is a unique offering this summer and something that should not be missed.
Overall Recommendation: High
