Lee Daniels' The Butler [Blu-ray Combo]

Amazing movie. Love all the actors

I used to think a bit less of this film because of the numerous changes made to the life of Eugene Allen, the real-life butler whom this is all based on. I just assumed these changes were made under the name of "artistic license" to add more drama to the story. Then I read  The Butler: A Witness to History , including director Lee Daniels's forward and I now understand the man's reasons for making the changes he made. While Daniels wanted to tell the story of a man who selflessly worked as a butler in the White House for thirty-four years, serving under eight U.S. Presidents from Truman to Reagan, he also wanted to tell the story of what was simultaneously going on outside of the White House...mainly the Civil Rights era. Having read the forward in the book, I now understand this and the fact that, in order to tie it all together, changes had to be made. I consequently like the movie a lot more than I once did. Forest Whitaker was by far my favorite in the film, playing Cecil Gaines, Eugene Allen's film counterpart. He played the character with a quiet self-confidence that Allen surely possessed in life. I thought it was a bit cliché for him to have personal conversations with many of the Presidents, but Whitaker's subtle ability to draw in an audience in made it work. I admit I wasn't sure about the casting of Oprah Winfrey as Whitaker's wife, but she did well. The older of their sons, played by David Oyelowo, was a portal for his family, and the audience, to see the struggles going on throughout the nation, especially in the South, as people fought for Civil Rights. You could see the conflict between father and son...it all felt genuine and that made the ending between them all the more satisfying. The second son, played by Elijah Kelley, was there just so there could be a second son. But he served one purpose, which was to illustrate a second conflict going on at the time. I knew nothing about either of these actors before they played these boys, but I was quite impressed by both of them. Another person who really impressed me was Aml Ameen, who played Cecil Gaines at age 15. The scene of his time at the café or diner or whatever it was was perhaps my favorite in the film. As for the other supporting characters, this film featured a cast of all-stars. I did find it weird to see Robin Williams never crack a joke anywhere in a movie he was in, but he played a fine Dwight D. Eisenhower...in fact, I didn't see Robin Williams at all...I only saw Eisenhower. Same goes for John Qusack, who disappeared into his role as Richard Nixon. James Marsden once commented on all the Oscars and nominees he played alongside, but he can stand proudly among these folks as he was a fine John F. Kennedy. In the end, everyone who played a historical figure did a great job. My favorite among this crowd would have to be Robin Williams as Eisenhower. As for the fictional supporting characters, Cuba Gooding, Jr., was my favorite, but he didn't get nearly the amount of screen time he deserved. The story was great as well. As I've explained, I've changed my mind and really do like it as opposed to the first time I saw it in theaters. There was never a dull moment throughout and many cast members, such as Oprah Winfrey and Mariah Carey, really surprised me, doing much better than I would have guessed. I fully recommend this film as it delivers a worthwhile plot from beginning to end...and the final line will make you laugh and just smile right afterward because both Forest Whitaker and Cecil Gaines totally deserved to say that line after everything they had been through. I suppose my final solace with this film is that Eugene Allen's family also liked it. I do wish that the great man himself could have gotten a chance to see it, but that will never be. But you should definitely see this film and you should also read  The Butler: A Witness to History ...everything is put into much greater prospective. Enjoy.

This movie has the power to stir one to action. There are moments to drop tears for, to weap in your heart. The actors and the writers did a great job bringing to life an unfortunate part of American & World History, as well as potential family dynamics during these last 50-70 years. I apologize that these events even happened. As a Christian, it is hard to imagine that we often read the same Bible, yet many in both the North & South since our founding, I have misunderstood it's message to be one of segregated love. No one chooses their race, but God decides for us, how and where we are born. Race is not a choice, therefore no human should be judged by the color of their skin, in the past, the present, or in the future. Watch this movie!

In the last six months three movies have moved me to change and open my heart on race, society, and gender. 'The Butler' is the third, after 'Twelve Years a Slave' and 'Belle'. Perhaps no-one else would/will be affected in the same way. Some may think my reaction shallow. But this story, fictionalized as it is, drew laughter, smiles, tears, outrage, pain - Cecil Gaines is the lens through which we witness the massive societal shifts that reshaped society over the last 60 years. It's an uncompromising lens. For example, Martin Luther King's over-voice saying 'the black domestic defy racial stereotypes' by being hard working... He slowly tears down racial hatred... in many ways they are subversive' while we see Cecil and the White House staff working in a White House where they are paid less, called ni**er, where the goal is that a room should feel empty when they are in it. Pain? Outrage? Hope? There is no word for the mix of all three, and more, that this movie evokes over and over again.At times the Gaines' home-life feels like my own childhood in the sixties - then all hell breaks loose at the homecoming dinner table. The tension is society's tension, generational tension, family tension, church tension. Heartbreak, conflict, hope - over and over in scene and dialogue skillfully set against one another, history plays out. Presidents, Cecil, his family, the news...This is not a light movie, but it is a must-see. If you lived through this time, it may break open your memories. If you only know this era through history and others, it can open your heart. Where do we go from here? The Gaines' family pain made me wonder about healing the wounds of race, of generations, of the 'isms' that continue to wound and divide. Yes, this is a fictionalized account of the life of Eugene Allen. I've read Michael Reagan's outraged critique of 'The Butler', and find it overdone. It doesn't make the Reagans look weak or vicious in Reagan's pondering and self-doubt on race. The movie included Nancy, played by Jane Fonda, bossing staffers around for 'Ronnie's' sake. Fonda comes off a snarky and arrogant, but this is Jane playing Nancy - I don't think she could help it. Kristin Chenoweth would have been excellent in the roll. What was included about the Reagans speaks volumns: Cecil (as was Eugene Allan) is invited to be a guest at a state dinner. The movie massages this, and then -spoiler- has Cecil resigning over Reagan's decision to veto the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. Doesn't feel like a slam at Reagan, who was very much shaped by his generational anti-Communist worldview. It marks a turning point Cecil's attitudes and his growth, from his virulent opposition to his son's Civil Rights activity, rooted in his upbringing, his generational attitudes and experiences - and he movement beyond them. It marks the beginning of Cecil's reconciliation to his son, and of Louis to his father.The last scenes are poignant -bit of a spoiler, if you haven't seen it- Cecil, now old and basking in the candidacy of Barack Obama, is fretting that his son hasn't been on time to pick them up for church since he'd been elected to congress. Gloria is fretting over their granddaughter. There is a powerful hope in the homey fretting and affectionate banter about grandchildren and life. Can we move beyond the chains and pains of the past, even live into brutal honesty and repentance and forgiveness into something like healing, as individuals and as a society? Yes, we can. We must.

Stellar film!! Script - directing - & Actors!! A file which should be mandatory in all schools, representing how much our country still must acknowledge and change!The movie starts out with "Based on True Events" The entire movie exemplifies American history, from the heinous cotton field, rape, tortured slavery to how abusive the human being still is beastly, to modern day war, why we are never equal.It is unnerving history, beautifully portrayed emotions in families, there is no justice to our systems or beliefs, an Honorable depiction - of life in the US over centuries, and how much we have NOT change.Blessed be the actors in this filme, outstanding presentation

very good movie

A good film which I have no regrets purchasing but there is something that I couldn't put my finger on about the film. Because with such impressive cast and they all obviously put their heart and souls in their performances; the story was good too, taking the viewer through all the decades the butler Cecil had lived through and the different histories of the black civil rights movement. It was when I read up on the film, something I do with the movies I watch, looking at the critic's and even reviews on here too, to get an idea what inspires a film, if it was well liked by the public.So I noticed a comment from a critic Kenneth Turan who called it Oscar bait and that was it, that niggling feeling with this film was all the stars ranging from Oprah Winfrey to Mariah Carey went for this film because they thought it was going to be a cert for Oscars. Other critics also mentioned the way it ha d a 'Forest Gump' feeling to it, blending the story with real photographs of the civil rights famous photographs and film footage. But The Butler did not have that strength at times, in fact the story missed with the blending of true life and fiction. I would say to people to have a watch, it is interesting ibut it didn't deliver the hit that the director was trying for

A good film it was more like a history about how black people where treated. very upsetting but makes you see how bad it was back then.

I kept thinking of the Color Purple with reference to quality, storytelling, and casting. Great great great.

OK, it wasn't expensive, but I kept it to one side for a long time before even removing the cellophane. When I did open it, I found it to be faulty. No redress - and of course, I can't prove anything, so beware!