The Help (2011)

I really, really, really, really, REALLY want to strangle Hilly Holbrook. That felt like the right way to start off this review. Based off of the book of the same name, The Help tells multiple stories revolving around the town of Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. The film is an ensemble piece, definitely. Contrary to what you may think, this is not a vehicle for Emma Stone. Now, I love Emma Stone to death, I think she is going to end up with a good few Oscars one day, but this is not her film. This isn’t anybody’s film. It is a pure group effort, probably the most difficult to find the main character in since 2010’s Coen Brothers version of True Grit. The movie follows multiple stories, so much that it’s kind of difficult to fully explain the plot. Emma Stone plays Skeeter, an aspiring novelist who attempts to write a book from the point of view of The Help, which was the name for African-American women that took care of the houses and children of the people who employed them, especially Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer, who kind of steals the show in every single scene she is in. She is so dang funny), who after getting fired from the controlling queen bee (almost like Rachel McAdams in Mean Girls if she was a thirty-something racist in the 1960s) Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard), goes to work for the emotionally troubled (at the hands of many people, including Holbrook) but extremely friendly and un-racist Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain). Wow. That was a mouthful. And there are much more characters that are decently important to the film, just they don’t fit in to the already packed plotline of the film. And when you have a movie that is 2 hours and 26 minutes long that is jam-packed with plot, you’ve got a lot of plot in here. The film’s story is obviously on the front lines for this movie, the makers of the film want it to be a success, and that’s all a movie needs. This movie is extremely good. But I am going to get my grievances out of the way so I can talk about how great it is-the first hour of the film is extremely slow. It’s intentional, and it is done very well, but it was very slowly-paced. The first hour of the movie dragged on for just too long it seemed like. If a really good editor tightened this up, and made the first hour less than 30 minutes long, the movie would probably be perfect. But sadly, it’s not, and my only real complaint is that first hour-or-so. Now onto the good parts. This movie is extremely sad and also very funny. It is not Airplane! style filmmaking where the entire movie is jokes back-to-back. Although, I do have to give the movie credit for having the first funny poop joke since 2009’s Up. But what makes The Help great is that I can remember that joke clearly, along with moments where I was in tears. I was in tears watching this film. I wasn’t bawling like a baby, I was just tearing up. I haven’t had this great range of emotion since I saw Forrest Gump all those glorious years ago. This movie is amazing. Again, I haven’t read the book, but I do love this movie. Currently, this is my fourth favorite movie of 2011, behind Midnight In Paris, Super 8, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Sorry Source Code. Just got bumped to 5th place. NOTE: I do know someone whose sister was a stand-in and extra in this movie. I cannot say for whom, as I cannot say in complete full confidence. Don’t let that seem like I’m even being kind of bias to this movie. It is brilliant. And you’ll want to strange Hilly Holbrook too.
9.5/10