The Butler....

[Worf101]

"The Butler" - Solid B - I heard the reviews were mixed, I went in expecting the worst, but the story, even if half true, was so amazing and well told that I totally bought in. I lived through those times, and the film had the ring of truth. I'm sure "Presidential Historians" will pick it to pieces, but I enjoyed it as entertainment, not "history". Whitaker was amazing, Oprah was far better than I thought she would be. The whole ensemble, which I heard did the film for lunch money, did a fine job. I did NOT recognize Mariah Carey, nor "Lafayette" from True Blood at all. Not "amazing" but damn good, as far as I'm concerned. The little ole ladies and I applauded at the end.
Worf

[Feanor]

Whitaker was great in The Last King of Scotland as Idi Amin -- a rather different sort of character than Cecil Gaines.

The Butler has got dismal reviews per IMDB, 5.7. Metacritic's Critics Reviews is a little better at 66, (here)

[recoveryone]

I saw this movie over the weekend also and was impressed with various parts of the film. The timeline was spot on with the attitudes of those times. The one part that stuck out to me was the never changing attitude of the Whitehouse staff chief. That it took the actions of the President to make the pay fair and opportuinty open to all. In what is the peoples house that should be the first example of fairness to all but was really last. 1980's

[harley .guy07]

Well I was wondering how this film was. I am by nature very interested in History and even though this is more for entertainment than actual historical truth I still like movies that bring to light the things that happened throughout Americas History whether its good or bad. I will have to check it ouut. Thanks

[emaidel]

Having read John Lewis's book, "Walking with the Wind," and reading first-hand accounts of the ordeals young blacks experienced at the beginning and throughout the Civil Rights movement, I'd have to say that "The Butler" got most of that stuff right. The juxtaposition of newsreel footage with actors was very well done.

Whittaker and Winfrey were both outstanding, but I felt the film had a very serious flaw that truly annoyed me: each and every actor in the "parade of presidents" looked absolutely nothing like the president he was portraying. Robin Williams as Eisenhower? John Cusack as Nixon? James Marsden as JFK? Liev Schreiber as Johnson? Alan Rickman as Reagan, and worse, Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan? It was downright cartoonish, and while it didn't thoroughly spoil the film, it took away from the overall quality. Also, none of the actors portraying black leaders at the time (Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael) looked anything like the people they were portraying either. Surprisingly though, the two extras as Haldeman and Erlichman looked so much like the people they were portraying that the effect was downright uncanny.