I never even heard of this quirky comedy about the cutthroat world of competitive butter carving in Iowa, but the cast convinced me to give it a try. Jennifer Garner is usually worth watching, and Hugh Jackman has a minor role. I’m not a fan of Olivia Wilde or Ty Burrell, but I don’t have anything against them, either. The concept seemed offbeat enough that it might be interesting.
And BUTTER is interesting. But it has a tone problem. Most of the time it seems
to be trying for heartwarming Americana, but then it takes several dark, crude
turns that are really jarring. What kind of movie is this, anyway? I’m not sure
even the people who made it could answer that. But I have to admit, I stayed
awake all the way through it, and I didn’t hate it. If you’re in the mood for
an odd, obscure movie, it might do the trick.
If you want a much better small town dark comedy, though, watch 1971’s COLD
TURKEY, which is also set in Iowa, by the way. I haven’t seen that in many
years, but I remember it as being very good.
4 comments:
Never heard of it either. I could say the same for most of the movies of the past 20 years. Garner ( a fellow West Virginian) starred in a similarly obscure 2017 revenge drama, PEPPERMINT, pretty good of its type except for a dumb plot development late in the story.
I saw PEPPERMINT, and while I don't recall the dumb plot development you mention, I do remember liking it overall. To be honest, though, I like just about anything with Jennifer Garner in it.
I'm told the whole thing was meant as a take-off on the Democratic primary that saw Obama become the nominee over Hillary Clinton. Who knows, though?
I can kind of see that, but I'm not sure I would have thought of it myself.
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