# The Butler - Blu-ray Review



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/news/tbc.jpg[/img] 
*Title: The Butler* 

*Movie:* :4stars:
*Video:* :4stars:
*Audio:* :4stars: 
*Extras:* :2stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*76


[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/news/tb1.jpg[/img]*Summary*
Exacting fact or historical fiction? That’s the sticking-point when it comes to director Lee Daniels’ _The Butler_, a film that tackles American history under the guise of a “based on a true story” banner. Drawn from the life of a longtime White House butler named Eugene Allen, Daniels delivers a historical window into the ugliness of inequality and racism in America’s past, paired with a celebration of the sheer bravery and determination of black Americans to overcome oppression and force social change. Daniels’ Eugene Allen inspired character is named Cecil (Forrest Whitaker). The hitch, however, is that Cecil (along with many of the film’s historical figures) is presented with quite a bit of creative license. From an entertainment perspective this isn’t a problem, however the film has the look and feel of real history with loads of inside-moments that are implied fact, and that’s dangerous. Cecil’s life (including family struggles) is delivered with intimate detail in dramatic fashion; many facts are fictionalized or simply made-up, blurring the lines between truth and fiction. The result is a Forest Gumpian romp through U.S. social history, where the main characters are conveniently tied to major milestone events (and constantly battling issues pertinent to the times). It works, sort of, but it’s fictionalized nature (be it made-up characters or inaccuracies in the characters’ lives) make for a less impressive product; add some mediocre impersonations of major players in U.S. history, and the result is a movie that feels somewhat cheap despite its deep and emotional subject matter.

The film opens with a young Cecil working a plantation cotton field at his father’s (David Banner) side. His happiness is instantly shattered as his mother (Mariah Carey) is brutally raped and his father is heartlessly executed. A woman running the plantation (Vanessa Redgrave) takes pity on Cecil and trains him to be house help. Cecil thrives in the home environment but eventually tears himself away, seeking a new life outside of the South. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/news/tb2.jpg[/img]
Fast forward to the 1950s and Cecil is living in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Gloria (Oprah Winfrey), and his two children. He’s content working as a butler at a high society establishment and performs his duties exceedingly well. Upon being noticed by a government official, Cecil is offered a job as a White House butler (a job he quickly accepts). Over the years, Cecil’s sons grow older and eventually leave the nest. His oldest son, Lewis (David Oyelowo), goes to school in the South and becomes an exuberant social activist, joining the Freedom Riders, following Martin Luther King, and eventually participating with Black Panthers. His increasingly outspoken views clash with Cecil’s own comfort level and the two become estranged. His other son, Charlie (Elijah Kelley), joins the military and digs his own grave in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Gloria becomes an alcoholic and commits adultery (blaming her life’s troubles on Cecil’s long hours and absence). 

The historical depictions (especially those of the Freedom Riders and several of the inside looks at presidential discussions) are intriguing and realistically disturbing. There are often moments where our nation’s history of inequality seems frighteningly recent to modern times; the very nature of cramming sixty years of history into a two hour film lends to a condensed feel, but this works well with the subject matter and helps deliver the film’s race driven message. Daniels further brings the issues to life by intertwining historical footage with movie footage, creating a sense of continuity and realism. The core story of Cecil’s life is also moving and impactful. It’s a rags to riches story that’s all the more impressive because of the racial roadblocks that Cecil encounters throughout his career. Unfortunately, the facts of his existence are twisted and fudged. According to well publicized fact checkers, the depiction of Cecil’s early life on the plantation, the addiction struggles and infidelity of his wife, the existence of an older son, and the loss of a younger son in Vietnam are all fictionalized. Back to the Forest Gump parallel, it’s obvious Daniels relies on these inaccuracies as a way to introduce issues and events of the times into the film. While they do little to teach us about the realities of Eugene Allen and his family, they allow the film to tell a broader story about America’s battle to overcome race related hatred and inequality.

On the acting front, Oprah Winfrey and Forrest Whitaker are simply sensational, with Whitaker delivering a cleverly layered performance (easily one of the best of his career). Winfrey is nearly equal to the task with a multidimensional roll that displays all of her talents, bringing us a character that is painfully troubled and flawed. Unfortunately there’s a precipitous drop-off in acting prowess after Winfrey and Whitaker. The movie’s presidential performances delivered by Robin Williams, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, and James Marsden are head-scratching, weak, and uninspired. All four are outclassed by a brief appearance of Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan. Better performances (or perhaps, better casting) in this department would have been huge for this film. The roles of supporting actors, such as Cuba Gooding, Jr., aren’t quite as bad, but they certainly aren’t as nuanced or convincing as Winfrey and Whitaker. 

*Rating:* 
PG-13 for some violence and disturbing images, language, sexual material, thematic elements and smoking.

*Video* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/news/tb3.jpg[/img]Starz delivers a fairly solid MPEG-4 AVC transfer of _The Butler_ that’s more than serviceable but nothing spectacular. The image typically has cool, crisp, colors that lend to a fairly bright presentation; reds have a tendency to pop and appear somewhat unnatural. Some indoor and dimly lit scenes are dominated by a brownish tint that allows golds and yellows to dominate. Blacks are generally excellent (dark and inky). Dark scenes present with average shadow detail despite some evidence of crush and noise. Fine details (clothing stitching, Forrest Whitaker’s facial details, beads of sweat on Nixon’s face) are all present as one would expect with a Hi-Def presentation, however the image’s overall clarity is a tad soft and muted by the presence of grain. Flesh tones are natural and spot-on for the duration of the film.

There’s nothing particularly frustrating about _The Butler’_s visual presentation, but it’s lacking a wow factor, landing it in an entirely ordinary place. 




*Audio* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/news//tb4.jpg[/img]_The Butler’_s DTS-HD MA 5.1 presentation is fairly solid for a drama, with a few warts here and there. The film’s moving original score by Rodrigo Leão breathes a welcomed warmth and expansiveness to the audio experience, pushing the front sound stage outward. Surprisingly, the score has a few moments with a strong, louder than to be expected, presence in the rear channels that's a tad too overbearing; it makes dialog difficult to understand. While centered and elevated, dialog is typically a tad thin and harsh (moderator voices are much thicker and more pleasing to the ear). Ambient sounds (such as humming cicadas, birds, thunder, and rain) have moments of brilliance as they inhabit the rear channels. Unfortunately, there are also moments where ambient sounds appear to be relegated to the center channel causing the presentation to sound too narrow.

While LFE doesn’t play a prominent roll in the audio track, there are a few moments (Freedom Bus attack, Vietnam War footage) where a few bass rumbles explode with exuberance. The score also contains a few bass heavy moments. 



[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/news/tb5.jpg[/img]*Extras:* :2stars:
• Lee Daniels' _The Butler_: An American Story 
• Deleted Scenes 
• The Original Freedom Riders
• "You and I Ain't No More" by Gladys Knight (Music Video)
• Gag Reel 









*Overall:* :3.5stars:
_The Butler_ is one of those films that’s good enough to recommend, but flawed enough to fall short of great. At it’s core, the film is about race, oppression, and inequality. Those are weighty issues and _The Butler_ tackles them head-on. The flip-side is Lee Daniels' choice of fudging the real-life facts of former White House butler Eugene Allen. Perhaps I’m making too much of this (others might be willing to overlook this issue), but I would have preferred Daniels to have remained true to Allen’s life. Historical stories, in my opinion, are always more compelling and impactful when told with fact (not fiction). The disc’s presentation attributes are middling (no demo material or jaw dropping moments to report). In addition, the disc’s extras are poor at best. One of the extras is a marathon of gag outtakes captured during filming. Considering the delicate nature and seriousness of the subject matter, these laugh sessions feel out of place. The opportunity for more historically-based extras and add-ons seems almost obvious and would have bolstered the disc's value; opportunity missed!

Despite its issues, _The Butler_ is a movie worth watching. I’d recommend viewing it as a rental first, only adding it to a collection after giving it your own stamp of approval.


*Additional Information:*
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Cuba Gooding, JR, Jane Fonda, Alan Rickman, Robin Williams
Directed by: Lee Daniels
Written by: Danny Strong, Wil Haygood
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Studio: Starz/Anchor Bay
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 132 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: January 14, 2014


*Buy The Butler on Blu-ray at Amazon*



*Recommendation: Rental​*


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Thanks for the review. I was waiting to see what your thoughts were on this movie. I liked the trailer and I know it is mostly fiction since it only has slices of facts in it.. Never the less, I will check it out as a rental as you mentioned for this movie. Thanks once again for a great review.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

tripplej said:


> Thanks for the review. I was waiting to see what your thoughts were on this movie. I liked the trailer and I know it is mostly fiction since it only has slices of facts in it.. Never the less, I will check it out as a rental as you mentioned for this movie. Thanks once again for a great review.


Thanks for the comments. This is definitely a film that should be watched despite its deficiencies. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts after a viewing!


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## Savjac (Apr 17, 2008)

I agree Todd but may actually be a bit more disappointed in how Daniels skewed the a mans life by adding details and scenes that really had no place in this mans life. These were troubled times to be sure, more so than few if any of us will ever know, but I believe those details belong elsewhere.

None the less, you have described this movie as well as the BR disc quite accurately, Thank You. It had to be a difficult review to write.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Savjac said:


> I agree Todd but may actually be a bit more disappointed in how Daniels skewed the a mans life by adding details and scenes that really had no place in this mans life. These were troubled times to be sure, more so than few if any of us will ever know, but I believe those details belong elsewhere.
> 
> None the less, you have described this movie as well as the BR disc quite accurately, Thank You. It had to be a difficult review to write.


Thanks, Jack. Criticizing a film of it's nature is a delicate balance...the theme and content can often be difficult to separate from chosen methods of presentation. I'm sure the life of Eugene Allen was extraordinary, harrowing, and inspirational. I agree that it's unfortunately that his facts are altered. Daniels was obviously looking to tell a larger story...it seems like he could have done it in another way.


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## Savjac (Apr 17, 2008)

Todd

Do you, and I do not want to put words in your mouth here as they are my thoughts but do you feel like I do that many of these "Life Stories" are taken from the annuls of history and found to be quite solid but maybe just not salable enough when presented with reality ? I keep thinking that producers, directors, screenwriters then hand pick bits here and bits there to add into these semi biopics to make a bigger point which then seems to loose the life details of the main character ?

In this case, a good, generous and genuine soul is made to look like he and his family were not only a part of the white house family but also every other group outside the white house looking to bring daddy into a morality challenge that could harm his core belief system. I am not sure Allen would wish his family presented in this manner. 

Maybe this is not the place for this discussion but in the case of this film it just makes him all the smaller man with no control and no happiness which we know he had in abundance.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I think it depends on how it's presented. In the case of The Butler, yes, I'd say your sentiment applies. There's no arguing that the subject material and events depicted in the movie touch on very real moments in history (or issues that affected families) that need recognition. But the movie is marketed differently...Even the advertisements Comcast OnDemand is currently running for the movie imply it's a life story movie. So, to your point, a person's life has been taken and twisted to serve another purpose. Good for content...not so good for honoring a real person. I think the writers and the director may have taken a few too many liberties in telling this story, but I'd imagine they'd argue differently.

I wonder what the real Eugene Allen would think if he could watch it.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks for the review Todd - stellar job as always!

This film was one of those borderline movies for me - I have a hard time watching films that depict a portion of our past that I wish we could go back and do differently, but I really want to watch it for the story they tell. I felt the same way about 42 - but I ended up purchasing that one. Guessing I will probably do the same with this one...


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

ALMFamily said:


> I have a hard time watching films that depict a portion of our past that I wish we could go back and do differently


Thanks, Joe!

I agree with this, 100%


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## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Thanks for the review. All politics, isms and such aside, I found the movie to be very entertaining with stellar performances by all the actors in their portrayals. Highly recommend the movie on that alone.


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

I finally got a chance to see this movie. Overall, I greatly enjoyed the movie. I thought all of the actors did a great job. I did think that the movie could have gone more into the personal life of the main character a bit more and why he was constantly fighting with his outspoken son. Also, in addition to him working there for so long, the guy who got him his job was there equally just as long if not longer.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

A blast from the past! It's not a bad movie, for sure... Glad you enjoyed it!


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