Hated the book, loathed the trailer. The movie looks a mess

This overhead shot sums up what ‘s wrong with the movie. Note how everything’s much too pristeen and seems as though it’s beautifully surreal, like a child’s view of how life is just perfect. Add to it the over the top acting, and The Help could wind up being the worst movie of the year.

 

You can view the trailer here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/19/the-help-emma-stone-stars_n_850843.html

  

Click on Images for Larger View:

Toilet Power

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I can just hear the voice over announcer saying:

Aibileen and Minny covertly checking out people reading the novel (Cue the laugh track)

There’s lots of hugging, laughing, face mugging and over the top performances in what promises to be the wackiest comedy of the year, as first time director Tate Taylor, Kathryn Stockett’s good friend creates a feel good, slapstick take on segregation!

Listen Y’all, Before viewing the trailer, I’d been under the impression that nothing could be as bad as the novel. Now I realize that Kathryn Stockett, Dreamworks and Tate Taylor had no idea what they were doing when working on this project. In an effort to combat the controversy and backlash the novel faced, Taylor decided to lean towards comedy, figuring segregation’s a bit too much of a downer, so let’s all laugh!

I also noticed Disney cleaned up the blurb on the movie. I think I still have the old one (somehow I figured it would come in handy) so I’ll put it up to compare once I find it.

Anyway, here’s what Disney’s using to date (may be subject to change):

 

“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 small 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  

My review of the trailer:

Looks like Aibileen and Minny, and the other maids have been “empowered” in this revision of a novel that was an unexpected hit, but also showed just how wide the racial divide still is in America. The Help is a polarizing book. the movie looks to take that a step further.

One of the biggest complaints concerned the lack of southern accent/dialect for the white characters. Not any more, as equality has been achieved on the language front. But it begs the question, why wasn’t it like that in the novel?

For more on the dialect controversy in the novel The Help, please read this post:

https://acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/identity-crisis-in-the-help/

 

Who’s afraid of the big bad Woof

 

Possibly stung by criticism over how big bad Minny really ain’t in the novel, Law don’t you know they done gave Minny a make-over! Yeppers, not only does Minny get to wear some of the ugliest clothes in creation, they’ve included a new scene:

 

 

 

 

 

The “Oh no she didn’t! Yes she did pretend to use Miss Hilly’s bathroom! Shut Yo mouth!”

 

**Scene and props meant solely to silence anyone from complaining about how lame the maids behave. Maid outfit sold separately**

 

Cue the laugh track again as the audience howls with glee while Hilly shrieks outside the door.

I’m cringing for Bryce Dallas Howard. This is just awful.

Oh give it a rest already

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scream the prequel

 

 

Bryce Dallas Howard gives her Razzie award winning expression

 

And to top it all off:

 

The author, with what looks like a Pineapple atop her head. And they thought Kanye West had a big ego. This pic isn’t from the trailer, I saw it on another site that said Kathryn Stockett was in the movie. Now, Stockett is an attractive woman. So how is it that the film couldn’t make the cast as hot as say,  Natalie Wood in the 1963 movie Love with the Proper Stranger:

1963 movie Love With The Proper Stranger. Steven McQueen is the man. Nuff said.

 

How great does Rita Moreno look in 1961, when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for West Side Story:

 

 And look how fine fellow co-star and Oscar winner George Chakiris looks. Yum.

 

Here’s Dianne Carroll in a 1965 glamour pic:

 

Dianne Carroll 1965 pic

 

Annette Funicello 1962

 

Haha. I couldn’t resist:

The Ronettes 1963

 

 

So what happened with the hair, clothes and make-up on The Help?

 

Listen, this is just . . . “a hot mess” per an Amazon.com commentor. I so concur.

First, as my daughter reminded me, the source material from the very first page sucked (thus she refused to go any further at one point) which boxed the screenwriter in.

 

More on what went wrong a bit later .  It’s past time to get serious with my critique.

 

Boycott the Help. Ban the Mammy Syndrome. Do it for the “children”.