Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Emma Stone | ... | ||
Viola Davis | ... | ||
Bryce Dallas Howard | ... | ||
Octavia Spencer | ... | ||
Jessica Chastain | ... | ||
Ahna O'Reilly | ... | ||
Allison Janney | ... | ||
Anna Camp | ... | ||
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Eleanor Henry | ... | |
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Emma Henry | ... | |
Chris Lowell | ... | ||
Cicely Tyson | ... | ||
Mike Vogel | ... | ||
Sissy Spacek | ... | ||
Brian Kerwin | ... |
Robert Phelan
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Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly -- and unwillingly -- caught up in the changing times. Written by Walt Disney Pictures
Lovely performances makes this far too clean and neat story, not merely palatable but enjoyable. We know by now that the plight of the "colored" in the South wasn't that clean cut or gentle in any way or shape. Here we can sit and watch discovering the depth of he ordeal in the wonderful face of Viola Davis. But, it all remains in the mild margins of the real story. Entertaining yes but I couldn't forget documentaries of the period or "The Long Walk Home" with Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek. Sissy Spacek is in "The Help" too and she's very funny. It also shows Bryce Dallas Howard under a new light. The bitchy, almost evil light. She's better here than she's ever been. Emma Stone is lovely and the wonderful Allison Janney in a disturbingly recognizable character raises the film to unexpected levels. I felt the film was too long and too careful not to offend anybody and that's were its weaknesses lay. But, I do recommend it.