Movie Confession

I want to get it all out in the open at the beginning of this post. I cried at the end of "The Help." I didn't see it coming, it just snuck up on me. I read "The Help" a couple months ago and didn't cry at the end of the book. And I knew what I was in store for plot-wise. I can't remember the last time I cried at the end of a movie. That probably ended when all rom-coms started rolling out the exact same plot lines. Or when I realized that I am not a cute crier. Some people look like sad, big eyed little puppy dogs. I look like a wet mess. Like the fat kid who dropped her ice cream in the sand on beach day (and started using mascara at an early age).

Anyway, I digress. Let's start with the book by Kathryn Stockett. I thought it was good. Not great, but not "Twilight." The book spent over 100 weeks on the New York Times Best-Sellers list. It won a bunch of literary awards. I'm told it's part of Oprah's Book Club, but what isn't these days. The plot itself is interesting and had the potential to be hugely impactful. Unfortunately I just didn't think it was that well written. This was her first novel and apparently it was rejected by over 50 literary agents. Stockett jumped abruptly from one character's view to another. There didn't seem to be any additional insights by adding various viewpoints. And I agree with the reviews that called this book racist. Why did the maid parts have to be in poor, broken dialect while the white women didn't have any Southern inflections? I just kept reading because it was an easy read and I just wanted to be done with it. 

I think what really got me about the movie was the superb acting. It was stacked with amazing actresses, making an uninspired book something worth watching. The casting was incredible. They somehow found the perfect actress to encompass each role and personality like how you imagine them exactly from the book. The movie actually won a SAG for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture." Viola Davis won a SAG as the main maid in the story, Aibileen Clark. Octavia Spencer won a SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar for playing Minnie Jackson exactly like I pictured her from the book. Poor Jessica Chastain was up for all three as well but didn't win any, even though she was very convincing as the clueless flake Celia Foote. I feel bad that Emma Stone didn't get any recognition as Skeeter. Same with Bryce Dallas Howard, as the hate-able Hilly Holbrooke. Also, Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek are scene-stealers with their smaller roles. It's a pretty sappy movie, so prepare yourself. What I think maybe got me the most was just viewing that struggle and thinking about all the things that haven't changed very much since Jackson, MS in the 1960s. If you liked the book, you should probably rent this if you didn't already run out to theaters. If you didn't like the book, wait for cable. If Oprah's cable network lives on, I'm sure this will be a staple.