Reviews For “The Butler” Are Mixed

Reviews for “Lee Daniels‘ The Butler” are trickling out, here and here. (Allow me to rant: I realize that director Daniels only has his name in the title because of a dispute with the MPAA, but ask yourself: if there had been a title dispute with the last movie featuring Oprah, “Beloved,” would the title have been changed to “Jonathan Demme’s Beloved”? Of course not, because the book was written by Toni Morrison. “The Butler” also has a source writer (Will Haygood) and a screenwriter (Danny Strong) but Hollywood has to pretend that Daniels is an auteur like Woody Allen. Ridiculous.) Those “Butler” reviews are mixed, but everyone acknowledges that the movie will do well, because there’s nothing else out there for adults.

Leave a Comment