A big conversation-piece last year on the festival circuit, "Butter" is a political satire - supposedly in the vein of "Election" - that uses a yearly butter-carving competition (yes, we are firmly in "Little Miss Sunshine" middle-america-as-quirktastic-museum-piece land) as a metaphor for "modern politics" (read: the 2008 presidential election.) Jennifer Garner is the deliberately Palin/Bachman-esque wife of the reigning champ who enters the contest herself in order to maintain her family's prestige after her husband is disgraced by being caught with a stripper/hooker (Olivia Wilde;) only to find her victory imperiled by the arrival of an adopted African-American girl (standing in for, well, GUESS) who turns out to be a natural prodigy at the "sport."
The first trailer, of course, is mostly downplaying that particular angle; which feels like a missed opportunity.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS after jump.
The film has had a good deal of ink already, mostly because Conservatives are getting better and better at mobilizing against stuff like this as though they were an ACTUAL persecuted minority, but the word from the critical press was pretty mixed otherwise: Heavy-handed, overly-broad/cute, etc.
Looks pretty funny to me, though, and naturally my interest perked up at the notion that Wilde's character (apparently) turns her romantic intentions on Ashley Greene - who I think is playing Garner's daughter. So... that ought to be something, at least. Though, it must be said, it's a little weird that Garner seems to still be playing every role with the same "13 year-old grownup" affect from "13 Goin On 30."
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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