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The Help (2011)

Director: Tate Taylor

Time Out rating

Average user rating

15 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

This is as brazen an Oscar-baiter as we’re likely to see this year: adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s bestseller about a group of black maids in early 1960s Mississippi publishing a collective memoir. I’m sold. Yes, it gets a bit sentimental. Yes, some ‘Ya-Ya Sisterhood’ friendship clichés creep in. Yes, it glosses history. But it’s also heartfelt, hilarious and the cast is a dream-team topped by Viola Davis. What’s more, it hinges on a gross-out scene that wouldn’t look out of place in a John Waters film.

Emma Stone plays a white college graduate, Skeeter, who persuades her best friend’s black maid, Aibileen (Davis), to write about working for white families. Nowhere is the vile hypocrisy of ‘separate but equal’ more apparent than in the maid-employer relationship. White employers won’t even touch their maids, yet these women are raising their kids, drying tears and kissing scraped knees. Davis deserves the nominations that are surely coming her way; she’s deeply moving as Aibileen, who has brought up 17 white children and whose own son died in an accident. Octavia Spencer (pictured, right) is hilarious as her best friend Minny – and there are good comic turns from Sissy Spacek and Jessica Chastain.

This is the same era as ‘Mad Men’, but Mississippi is a long way from New York. And Skeeter’s friends – the maids’ employers – make Betty Draper look like a radical feminist. The meanest of the mean girls is Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard, acidly amusing), who sacks a maid for using her toilet, prompting that revoltingly funny gag.

Author: Cath Clarke

Time Out London Issue 2149: Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2011

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User reviews of this film

lynzyk said...

Posted on Mar 27 2012 00:02 A rare film that was as enjoyable as the book. Brilliant acting by all, superb sets, and yes there was some broad brush characterisation and storytelling, but still it hit home truthfully about race bigotry and also class snobbery. The maid's relationships also made me cry, it was a very moving and powerful film. Great to see Cissy Spacek too acting wittily and brilliantly.

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patsy said...

Posted on Nov 15 2011 08:11 I loved the big houses, spick and span - good work ladies! Those flash big cars twenty foot long with two coupe doors - sublime, the elegant gardens and scrumptious pies, tight waisted frocks and pencil skirts - hell why did I miss the 60's? I just need some of that home help down in my Essex spread. Give 'em all actors an Oscarino each - I'm gonna buy that book, just love the pale blue cover.

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violetta said...

Posted on Nov 15 2011 07:38 Mississippi, the same year that Kennedy is killed, is an abomination of racial hatred. Truth be told the Southern US States still hold a scary volume of racial tensions. The Help dwells on the petty everyday behavior of mistresses towards their maids. But it's these accumulated insults that grind away at the maids' dignity. The cast-iron law that maids cannot use the mansion house toilets, whatever the urgency, and must not be sassy. The practice that maids are passed onto to the next generation of daughters by their mothers, confers a job for life, but removes freedom of choice. These harsh iniquities are set within a glittering array of colonial mansions, bridge afternoons, chocolate pie and fabulous Cadillacs. A minor rebellion takes place amongst the maids fed by the newly graduated Skeeter Phelan, she secures a NY journalist's career launched on the back of the maids' everyday gossipy revelations about their nasty employers - a book is successfully published, "The Help" earning the contributers $40 each. This all ties up rather nicely as Skeeter gets her job and the maids' lose theirs. A Women's Institute's view of inhumanity from a kitchen range vista but still an enjoyable two hours.

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Angela said...

Posted on Nov 14 2011 12:48 Very enjoable and moving film. No special affects just great acting. worth seeing!!!

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rodgey1 said...

Posted on Nov 06 2011 22:42 I was led to believe it was a film based on a true story so was a little skeptical. At the end it told me it was from a novel and strangly didn't mind the slight contrivances.
Clearly based on the dreadful treatment my fellow whites have meted out over the years. So, shame on us. But a very interesting way of telling the story. Highly enjoyable and moving at the same time and definite oscar worthy perforrmances all round. My only slight gripe is I found it difficult to catch all the dialogue. Go see it you won't be wasting your time.

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scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Nov 03 2011 21:33 Well, got my tear duct's troubled (and my tear duct's aren't usually troubled unless watching all time fave's) and not a second too long. Downside? 80's MISSISSIPPI BURNING deals with such behaviour with far more power and - what't he hell? EMMA STONE top billing? 2 better performances on display but, hey! now's not the time (wtf?) Anyway, great viewing, lovely vibe, not a second to long but....25 years too late perhaps? 7+/10

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Iain Robb said...

Posted on Nov 02 2011 13:49 And I agree as well, hence my own 4 stars. It's corny as hell, it isn't deep, and it has more than a few cardboard-cuout characters. But it's fun, and it's well acted, has a memorable gross-out gag and features Emma Stone looking remarkably like Lindsay Lohan, which is entertainment in itself. Don't look too deeply into it; just enjoy its quickly passing two plus hours.

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Dick said...

Posted on Nov 02 2011 12:35 Missed the first 10 mins, but soon caught up. Forget the pretentious crap. It's not a scary film, it does have a message, of times gone by, but this was a thoroughl;y enjoyable film which touches just about every emotion and was well worth seeing, even at that length! Deserves every one of its 4 stars.

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john o sullivan said...

Posted on Oct 31 2011 17:50 Simple message racismn is odious and not all white people are evil
i have seldom been as moved as i was watching bthe help
they should award oscars to the whole cast
And Jessica is surely the new streep
yes it pushed every button known and by the end newmans bloody piano scvore was grating
but a great fil 4 stars

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Iain Robb said...

Posted on Oct 28 2011 10:15 So let's see; it's getting 2 stars in audience reviews because it's about two hours and something long? Time for objectivity. I agree with the main review and have nothing to add; ignore the occasional clichés and schmaltizeness and you're left with a highly enjoyable film.

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CeliaJ said...

Posted on Oct 26 2011 17:38 You'd be hard pressed to call this a bad film. All the right ingredients are there, and there's a hint of Oscar nominee movie about it: The acting's good, there are some funny moments, the story's realistic, but it's long - round about 2.5hrs - and including trailers you're likely to be there for around 3hrs. I'm glad I saw this film, but if I was to do so again I'd be more selective about my cinema, and definitely splash out on premium comfy seats.

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Anon said...

Posted on Oct 22 2011 07:47 Come on Time Out, why no review of this film? It was on preview in Chelsea earlier this week, and opens on Weds 26th in quite a few cinemas.

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Violet said...

Posted on Oct 19 2011 09:52 I can’t remember a mainstream movie tackling a subject such as this. It’s a sad tale of servitude and exploitation that needs to be told. The maids Minny and Aibileen keep the story moving along nicely with a certain amount of good humour. Sometimes I found the story leaden and slow. Having just checked the running time, it’s 146mins/2h26m – long by any standard – and I think this probably explains the fidgeting and chatting of the rest of the audience in some places. Worth seeing, but not one I’d see for a second time or bother with on DVD.

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Ian said...

Posted on Oct 18 2011 22:41 This is one of the most disturbing films you will see all year. Disturbing in a make you angry rather than violent or scary way.
Stone is excellent and the two lead maids will make you laugh and make you cry. It is their story and it shows just how bad things were in the South of the USA not so long ago.
Chastain's character may not be visibly different to the Southern Belles yet she faces bigotry possibly even more disturbing than the maids. She may be rich and white but she is ostracised in possibly a more complete way than the maids. At least they get into the nice houses.
As the "uber bitch" and Queen bee Dallas Howard is superb in a role that should win her many awards.
However I expect to see her and Stone getting lots of nominations whilst Davis takes home the awards.
All in all very good and thought provoking.

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Mike said...

Posted on Oct 18 2011 22:18 It’s a bit dismissive to say “If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the film”, but the trailer for this movie gives a helluva lot of the storyline away. Many trailers don’t. The casting’s faultless, with Viola Davis as one of the maids central to the story. Allison Janney is also very convincing. This film’s often amusing, at times disturbing, and occasionally sad. I felt it was protracted, and 20 minutes could have fallen on the cutting room floor. Enjoyable, but won’t win Oscars. Two stars.

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