I'll Decline THE HELP, Thank You Very Much

It's been a long time since my last post, but what better way to come back than with a scathing review? I saw THE HELP this weekend and had one of my "Why the hell does everyone like this crap?" moments, like I did when I saw similarly overhyped movies like UP IN THE AIR and the unimaginative SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

THE HELP is an obvious, conventional, pandering movie about race relations - but one that reinforces the very stereotypes it hopes to overcome. Yes, the performances are great and the cinematography is beautiful, but I'm going to guess black viewers would be disappointed. Why? Because it only shows blacks as uneducated servants, and the hero of the film is a white woman who courageously crosses the line to help them. The black characters are your cliched "magic negroes," the white racists face comeuppance in ways meant to appeal to white guilt, and it repeats the same joke about putting poop in pie about seven times. Please, can't we for once make a mainstream film about segregation that shows blacks as heroes and individuals, and not have to have a noble white person leading the way?