"The Help" Movie Review

The movie "The Help" is the story of what just might happen if someone decided to ask the help what it was like to be a maid in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960's. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a fresh from college writer wanna be does just that.

The movie is based on the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. "The Help" stars Emma Stone as Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, who brought the spunk to the table, Viola Davis as Aibelene Clark, who provided the heart, and Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson, who delivered the humor, over and over again. Bryce Dallas Howard, as socialite Hilly Holbrook, brilliantly puts the capital S and double o in Snooty and instantly makes you feel like a superior person, which ironically is her own problem.

It's girl's night out at the movies.

Tonight a group of ten and I sat in a row for girl's night out to watch "The Help" on the second night it hit the theatres. Ongoing feet of spiral phone chords and fried chicken abounded, on screen of course. In the theatre there was just the smell of buckets of popcorn and the occasional shimmer of a smart phone light.

If there was just one word that could describe watching the movie "The Help," my new acquaintance, Prianca, nailed it saying it was very "emotional." The movie "The Help" was equal parts steel wool and feather boa. At times it will rub you raw and at other times it will just tickle you to death. Several times I became aware that the row of us had a hand over our mouths or all ten fingers perched over our noses. Events and conversations alike will horrify you but in short order you'll find yourself laughing out loud. Not in a chuckle kind of way either. This movie brought out prolonged bouts of laughter with spontaneous clapping too. I tried to think of a movie I'd seen that had provoked in equal parts so much laughter and tears. "Steel Magnolias" came to mind but this story was so much bigger, deeper, sadder and funnier too.

A drum roll, please, for my nominations for best supporting actresses.

This is really a story of women. There are no male characters or scenes that will stand out except for a few moments with the editor of the local paper who wants his door kept closed because he's convinced that "one day they'll figure out smoking cigarettes is bad for you." I hope that the low levels of testosterone in this movie weren't too disappointing to the exactly five men who joined me and around a hundred other women at this 2^nd night showing of "The Help."

I don't doubt that Stone, Davis, Jackson and Howard will get plenty of well deserved accolades for their roles in this gripping movie but the supporting actresses were just too numerous and too good not to spotlight.

Here are my honorable mentions.

Mary Steenburgen, who I first loved in "Parenthood" and most recently loved in "The Proposal" and "Have You Heard About the Morgans?" played New York editor, Elaine Stein perfectly. Alas her role was small but not without memorable lines such as when she tells Skeeter to hurry up and produce her manuscript on the interviews with the help "before this whole civil rights thing blows over."

Allison Janney, as Skeeter's mother, Charlotte Phelan, is going to be the mother you'll love to hate but in a convincing performance, Janney's Charlotte will melt in the end and be careful or you could be easily carried away by the run off. My only qualms were an accent that didn't always hit the note and what seemed like an out of character speech at the end, even though we all cheered for it just the same.

Here are the three best supporting actresses that make me glad the Academy never calls and asks me to choose.

Cicely Tyson, as Constantine Skeeter's own childhood nanny, will fill your heart and then open a hole in it. Tyson brought us all to tears. That's all I am saying about that. Pass the tissues, please.

Jessica Chastian, as Celia Foote, is absolutely as adorable as she is pitiable. If you've ever been the odd girl out, you'll love her. Even if you haven't, you'll sympathize with her and pull for her just the same. She manages to be super cute and remain super humble at the time.

Sissy Spacek took the cake (and not the pie mind you, wink, wink for those who have seen the movie) as the main protagonist Hilly's slightly senile mother Missus Walters. She was an absolute hoot. Watching the Guiding Light on the black and white and eating her ambrosia salad, she'll remind of someone you've known. Then she'll quickly spin those warm fuzzy memories into hysterical laughter.

What if you've read the book? Will you like the movie?

I had not read the book first but had been intrigued by an interview with the author of the book "The Help" in the August 2011 Southern Living magazine. Back in 1993 seeing the movie "The Firm" after reading the book has somewhat jaded my ability to love a movie after reading a great book. It appears that this may not be the case with "The Help."

Several of my movie companions had read the book The Help first. Amy Crisp, a Forest, VA book club leader, said that having read the book first, "the movie was really good and it was REALLY close to the book."

So, how many stars for "The Help"?

With only two thumbs, I have to go with a five star rating scale. I am reluctant to give movies 5 stars, other than maybe The Notebook, but "The Help" gets five stars from me without a strong love story or Ryan Gosling either. It's just that gripping of a story even when it goes a little over the top or dips a little under the bottom.

The movie "The Help" is certainly an eye opener, especially for us forty-something and younger who experienced the civil rights movement of the era as "history." No matter your age, "The Help" will most likely at least nudge on your perspective and fair warning to chocolate pie lovers everywhere. You may never see a chocolate pie again with out laughing out loud, or gagging. Depending on your perspective, of course.