Butter

In small-town Iowa, an adopted girl discovers her talent for butter carving and finds herself pitted against an ambitious local woman in their town's annual contest.

Let me say right off the bat what I did not like about this film: the political angle. I did not mind the Newt Gingrich carving, but was it really necessary for the Picklers to be presented as Republicans? Their political views were not important -- their competitive spirit was.

That aside, it was pretty great. The ensemble cast is incredible -- Hugh Jackson, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Wilde (who steals the show on her bicycle)? Awesome. Ashley Greene outside of Twilight? Incredible. And Alicia Silverstone, who I had completely forgotten existed, comes back in a big way.

Some of the humor here is weak, and some of it is a bit cheap (two sex scandals are a key part of the plot)... but for a film about carving butter, it all ends up being pretty decent.

This light satirical comedy about a butter carving competition has a strong cast and an OK story. The plot is quite funny with some lol moments. There are some cute digs about race and ambition.

I have never been a huge Jennifer Garner fan (the over perky grin) but luckily it makes use of the talents of other fine actors especially Olivia Wilde as a stripper, Alicia Silverstone, and Ashley Greene as a teenage daughter. Hugh Jackman makes a small appearance.

I can see why it wasn't a box office success - it's more TV movie material with a A list movie cast. But I found it worth a watch just don't expect too much.

Uneven but, at times, amusing offbeat comedy about the participants in a butter sculpture contest. When butter sculpture king, Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell) is asked to step aside after 15 years in the spotlight, his vengeful, social climber wife, Laura (Jennifer Garner) decides to enter to win to keep the Pickler name at the top. When she comes up against a truly talented 10 year old orphan, Destiny (Yara Shahidi) the gloves come off as Laura Pickler fights to keep herself socially relevant. While the film isn't perfect, the script by Jason A. Micallef provides some fun satirical wit and director Jim Field Smith guides a good cast through the hit and miss material well enough to entertain. And while for the most part, Butter is a fun satire of middle America, it does have a tendency to divert attention to subplots that don't serve the story. No more evident then Bob's involvement with a hooker (Olivia Wilde) who then becomes involved with the contest and Bob's daughter (Ashley Greene). It provides some sex and spice to the film but, nothing to the plot as does Hugh Jackman's brief appearance as an old flame of Laura's. While the film's focus does wander, there is enough there to make this an amusing enough watch and the cast helps carry things well enough when it flounders. More like 6.5

This had all the feel of one of those made for TV Movies of the Week that were produced in the '70's. It contained all the elements of morality and preachiness that we expect from an afternoon special and a predictable conclusion where we all learn a moralistic fable lesson.

Simple story but well acted and a number of names that are surprising for a movie of this caliber. The characters are one dimensional but well played. I cannot for the life of me figure out why the language and adult situations were added. This could have been a PG rated movie easily and will not have a problem being edited for TV.

Not a waste of time but I can understand not wanting to shell out the price of a ticket.

12 May 2013. Surprisingly better than would be expected, this rather remarkable fusion of the delicate blending of comedy and drama that Jennifer Garner is able to pull off successfully is a work of either wickedly lucky directing and acting or a wonderfully brilliant but risky work of seriously hard-hitting meanness soften somehow by humor and lightness. This oil and water mixture somehow comes out like butter on the hotplate unburned. With echoes of similar comedy-drama competition genres such as Bottle Shock (2008) and Blow Dry (2001), the fascinating focus is a dueling plot line between a girl and a woman with a Little Miss Sunshine (2006) or Jersey Girl (2004) mixture in it. Unlike the more serious tone of People Like Us (2012) or August Rush (2007), Butter still is able to capture a strong emotive punch from both the girl and Jennifer Garner's performance.