Butter's Final Meal

Cheeky title, but it's in the same ballpark. While I absolutely despised The Whale as a film, I found this one better done, even as an adult watching. It was relatable...life isn't all doom and gloom, and people who seem perfectly normal can be dying inside. And people near to those suffering always wish they'd have known, suffering people don't wear a cowbell. And this film catches that well, bouncing between joy and utter sadness.

It's a little corny at times, and not the best acted. It's also not completely unrealistic in any way, as I was worried where it was heading from the description. The description both here and on prime actually doesn't do it justice, it's a far deeper movie and the catfishing isn't all that relevant to the movie at large. But it doesn't pound the drama and negativity into your head like The Whale, it's a balanced look. Give it a watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, you'll be glad you did.

Greetings again from the darkness. Being a high school kid has always been challenging, and today's added pressures of social media makes being an outlier almost unbearable at times. Writer-director Paul A Kaufman (in his feature film directing debut) has adapted the 2012 novel by Erin Jade Lange into a film that tackles several emotional hurdles, some of which are downright devastating.

Marshall (an excellent Alex Kirsting) is a morbidly obese high school student. He plays a mean jazz saxophone, yet yearns to be heard, seen, and accepted as a person, rather than as a target for the bullies who call him "Butter". He weighs in at 423 pounds at the dietician's office, and he's catfishing Anna (McKaley Miller), his secret crush at school. Online, he's posing as JP, a soccer star at a private school, and Anna confides secrets so that he can provide sage advice. At home, his mother (Mira Sorvino) enables him with her 'food art', while his dad (Brian Van Holt) barely acknowledges the presence of his fat son.

There are no heroes in this story, and despite being partially described as a comedy, this is in fact a dark commentary on how people behave. Butter is so fed up (unintended pun) and desperate to be seen, he devises a plan to go out with a bang. He creates a website and announces online that he will literally eat himself to death. Yep, suicide by smorgasbord at midnight on New Year's Eve via live webcast. The reaction of his fellow students catches him off guard. Butter becomes popular overnight. People talk to him ... while at the same time placing bets and serving up menu suggestions for the final feast.

Butter also provides the narration to his own story, and along the way we meet his doctors played by Ravi Patel and Annabeth Gish, and a supportive teacher played by Mykelti Williamson who encourages Butter to expand his musical talents. We note how attitudes change once communication and interactions replace withdrawal and ignoring. Some of the heavy topics handled here include bullying, suicide, depression, eating disorders, low self-esteem, a lack of empathy and compassion, and body-shaming. It's interesting to watch as the classmates and Butter get to know each other, how Anna shows there is more to her than a pretty face, and how Butter's parents seem oblivious to their son's internalized feelings. The film does get a little preachy near the end, but for the most part, it's a pretty effective look at what it's like being an outcast.

In theaters February 25, 2022.

BECAUSE SHE GETS US. This is a really good movie. You do not understand what it is like to be in our bodies. An extremely small, tiny number of fat people are able to lose weight and keep it off. Imagine being an alcoholic, but you must drink at least once drink a day in order to live, or you are addicted to meth or some other hard drug and again must have some of it every day to live. That's what we face. Anyway, Butter is just a very nice, heartfelt, yet fairly realistic movie in a lot of ways, that is a great reminder to normies that we fats may be gross but that we are still humans and we have feelings and dreams and should be treated with some small amount of respect and dignity. The difference between us and you is that our major defect is visible to everyone and can't be hidden. The actor who plays Butter is great. Mira Sorvino, I thought at first was not at her best, but as this seems like a teenage/young adult film, she is portraying awkwardness on purpose, because many kids see their parents as out of touch, and can only deal with their kids in an awkward way. The Prof character is very cool and is the adult who most understands Butter. I think this should be part of health class required viewing for 8th or 9th graders.

Great Movie and even better soundtrack.

Hey guys - The scene where Butters friends take him out .

At one point you see them line dancing - Cowboy country style .

But the song playing is far from country !!

Sounds like Zeppelin!!

" All I wanted to say..... You're gonna miss me when I'm gone ".... ( something like that ).

Who is That ??????

Also - another fun little tune I heard in the movie ... The scene after the Christmas scene , Butter is taking to his friend .

Then you see him in a supermarket loading up supplies .

The lyrics are like " Well On That Street /You bought your scar - from my way down / Had my Fortune Told .... And that Green Eyed Gypsy / Oh so shakes me / She says that the Pain is what makes me - Whole ".... Oh such a cool little tune !!

Who sings that ???

I'm on a mission .

Again - Great movie - I wish I could be a vigilante and deliver Justice to all who have been bullied !!

Tears me apart !!

I don't get it !!

I grew up with a bunch of A Holes and went to school for 12 years and I never ever noticed or knew of anyone being bullied .

But then again - I grew up without social media .

That's a real Be Otch !!

But still - people were still bullied back then .

Never around me though .

Or even my friends who went to other schools .

Trust me - If I did see anything like that - a boy or girl being bullied , it would end fast !!

I'm that type of guy .

I always stick up for the underdog .

Everyone should !!

I was interesting about independent movie. I love this movie so far. Alex is pretty good actor to play Butter. I can relate his feeling and how he has been through and what people doesn't see either notice till something happened and got noticed. It kinda bother me how people treat and think real friends and stuff but they are not real till they have to show real side and show who they are (believe it or not, I'm deaf and i don't have real friends mostly fake friends they only care what they see/think) I just don't understand people but Movies are my life.