The Help (2011)

Set in the early 1960s in Mississippi, a young college graduate (Emma Stone) returns home to find the family's longtime maid (Cicely Tyson) gone. After getting a job on the local newspaper, Stone decides to write a book on "the help", the black maids who clean the homes, cook the meals and raise the children of town's white citizens. Based on a best seller by Kathryn Stockett and directed by actor (WINTER'S BONE) turned director Tate Taylor, the film's heart is in the right place and its intentions are good. But this is yet another film which utilizes a white protagonist to tell the story of African-American struggles. The stories of the black women are so compelling that it seems a waste of time to focus on Stone's romantic life, however brief. The film is not above some unsubtle manipulation to squeeze as many tears as it can from our ducts. And surely not everyone in town was a slobbering racist! Where the film soars is in its impeccable ensemble cast. I can't remember when I've seen such a perfectly cast, well acted film in years. Viola Davis (DOUBT), and I see another Oscar nomination in her future, and Octavia Spencer shine but the real scene stealer is Jessica Chastain as a Marilyn Monroe-ish newlywed. With Malick's TREE OF LIFE (she was Brad Pitt's wife) and now this, Chastain has had an impressive year. The wonderful cast includes Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Allison Janney, David Oyelowo and Brian Kerwin.