Spinning Into Butter

You can’t blame Sarah Jessica Parker for wanting to get away from her usual Manolo Blahnik–wearing roles, but Spinning Into Butter, based on the 1999 play by Rebecca Gilman, was a rotten choice. Sarah (Parker) is a dowdy dean at a liberal arts college in Vermont, whose campus is shaken by racist attacks. Enrolling in American History X isn’t an option; characters are reduced to cultural stereotypes, a bunch of bigoted WASPs frightened by scary African-Americans. The film feels like a smug pat on the back from one of the same pesky white liberals it attempts to deride.