Butter- Intelligent, Funny, and with a Stellar Cast

Dark comedies, especially political dark comedies, are a tricky sub genre. A film could be hilarious and edgy for 3/4 of it's running time, and then pull back during the home stretch and hurt the overall film. With politics added to the mix, it's even more challenging to pull it off as a film can appear one sided, or just plain preachy. Butter manages to avoid falling prey to any of these challenges, and manages to be a very funny, smart, no-holds-barred commentary on modern politics. While it certainly might seem a little "left" for a majority of it's runtime, writer Jason A. Micallef and direcor Jim Field Smith make sure to highlight both sides of the political spectrum and still make the film entertaining for anyone, regardless of which political party they vote for.

Shaping the 2008 primaries into a butter carving contest, Butter follows the dutiful and loyal housewife Laura Pickler (Jennifer Garner), who's hurt and embarrassed when her butter carving champion husband, Bob (Ty Burrell), is caught up in a scandalous affair with a trampy stripper (Olivia Wilde). Desperate to prove her own ability and self worth, Laura sets out to compete in the butter carving contest with her heart set on the gold. A wrench is thrown into her plans when, seemingly out of nowhere, foster child and butter carving prodigy Destiny (Yara Shahadi) emerges as major competition. Hm...sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?

The film doesn't try to hide it's political allegory status. In fact, it almost flaunts it. Jennifer Garner seems to be doing her best Sarah Palin imitation, while the comparisons between her character and Hilary Clinton are also quite clear. Destiny, meanwhile, delivers speeches about change and hope not unlike Obama did during his original campaign. But that's what makes Butter so much fun. The film brings to light just how ridiculous elections can become, how much people will do to secure votes, the strategies that they use to secure sympathy, and how different political parties, and the people in them, view each other. The script is, thankfully, never preachy about it's political beliefs and displays both Laura and Destiny in a fair light. They may have flaws, but the film doesn't necessarily depict one to be a villain and the other to be a hero. It also allows the film to be taken on two separate levels: a laugh out loud, shockingly edgy comedy, or an intelligent political satire. Either way, you'll end up satisfied.

A few problems do, unfortunately, arrive thanks primarily to the film's length. At a brisk 90 minutes, the film flies by without giving time for the supporting characters to grow. Ashely Greene, who plays Laura's rebellious step-daughter who enjoys doing drugs and experimenting with lesbianism, remains underdeveloped and is never given any real motivation for what she does. Destiny's foster mom, played by Alicia Silverstone, has very few scenes and is never really given much of importance to do. The movie also side steps some subplots, most notably the story of Destiny's biological mother, which is brought up only once or twice despite being a very important plot point.

These mistakes are forgivable, however, due to how funny the film is and how fantastic the performances from the entire ensemble are. Jennifer Garner gives the performance of her career as Laura Pickler, completely transforming herself into a woman that manages to be more than just a recreation of Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman. Everything from her voice to her body language are funny, and Garner completely disappears into the role. Newcomer Yara Shahadi also delivers a stellar breakthrough performance. Her comedic timing, while subtle, is impeccable and she carries the film easily and wins the hearts of the audience quickly. In terms of the supporting roles, Rob Corddry plays against type as Destiny's caring foster dad, but still allows for his sense of humor to shine through at just the right time. Stealing the film, surprisingly, is Olivia Wilde. After a number of attempts to break into blockbusters, I was ready to give up on Wilde. To me, she just seemed like a charismatic actress, but one that couldn't carry the movie. She just seemed like another pretty face. Her transformation into the foul mouthed, highly sexual Tokyo Rose is outstanding. Wilde doesn't have the best lines, and doesn't have much screen time compared to Garner, Shahadi or even Ty Burrell, but Wilde is who you will think of after finishing the movie. It's not that she has the best lines, it's that she delivers them perfectly and is obviously having the time of her life playing the character. 

Butter, while not a perfect film, is a charming one and one of the smartest political satires in years. Thanks to it's impressive cast and an intelligent script, Butter overcomes it's flaws and manages to be one of the year's must sees. It is available on Video on Demand right now and will play in select theaters in October.

OVERALL GRADE: B+