I’ve tried a couple of times to get through the novel “The Help”, but never quite been able to complete it. But, being Southern, and generally loving things concerning Southern women, and, too thinking that Viola Davis is one of the greatest and most underrated actresses working today, I was thrilled to hear quite a while back that a film was made of the book, and that Davis played one of the primary roles. That film opened about four months ago, and, as excited as I was about it, I have just now gotten around to seeing it. That’s not a measure of my interest in the film decreasing, but rather the business of my own life increasing, and so often, life does get in the way of things like seeing new movies, or unloading the dishwasher, or remembering to record the new episode of “Modern Family”, so I hope that I may be excused by whatever diety is in charge of the picture business: hopefully the ghost of Bette Davis.
“The Help” isn’t a bad movie, but it is a very familiar stew, made up of a a little of “The Color Purple”, mixed with a dash of “Fried Green Tomatoes”, a bit of “Steel Magnolias”, and other, earlier Southern women flicks. The script wants to be taken seriously as a period piece, but undercuts this intent with cardboard cutout characters, and moments of almost slapstick comedy that don’t fit the general tone of the film.
Viola Davis as Abilene Clark, should certainly earn her Best Actress nomination, if for only the scene where she tells Skeeter (Emma Stone) about how her son died, and Octavia Spencer’s Minny will be a strong Supporting Actress contender for her scenes with Celia (Jessica Chastain), the outsider desperate to fit into the cream of Jackson, Mississippi society circa 1963. Only a curmudgeon like myself would object to the Johnny Cash & June Carter duet of “Jackson” being played during the film, if only because I know it wasn’t recorded until much later in the 1960’s.
Stone’s Skeeter is the only one of her girlfriends who hasn’t married or started breeding, and it’s apparently because she’s the only one with any ambition, despite the efforts of her cracked belle Mama (Allison Janney) to make her be the perfect little Southern lady. Stone surprised me here, because I was afraid she might be out of her league working with some of these other performers, but she handles the role well, and combined with her comedic work in “Easy A” mark her as a young actress with a truly special range.
Chastain as well is very touching as the vulgar girl who got pregnant before she married (the grand bitch’s ex boyfriend, of all people), and her desire to be a good wife and a member of the social set in town is a valid supporting plot to the main story of the domestics’ desires to improve their quality of life.
Sissy Spacek, still with some of the spit and vinegar she had way back in “Coal Miner’s Daughter” has a lovely small role as the grand bitch’s mother, whose mostly off her rocker but still has moments of clarity where Spacek proves she’s still a hell of an actress.
Now, to the low point of the film’s performances; the previously mentioned ‘grand bitch’ Hilly Holbrooke played by Bryce Dallas Howard. Howard acts like she’s in a cartoon, and she never moves from the single note of hysteria that she finds in her character, and keeps on pounding away on that note throughout the entire movie. Granted, the character wasn’t developed, but Bryce’s performance didn’t help matters at all. Neither did some of the more uncomfortable moments of unconscious cruelty displayed to various members of the serving class, most of which were put into motion by Hilly herself.
Overall, I enjoyed “The Help”, mainly for showcasing a (mostly) fine group of actresses in (mostly) decent roles with depth and texture that is often lacking when an actress finds herself playing “Hooker #2” or “Ex-wife of the Star” in whatever big-scale action movie has just opened. Now I just need to get around to reading that book!
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