Film: Butter

Director: Jim Field Smith
Genre: Comedy
Source: USA (2011)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Netflix Instant
Grade: A-

Well this was a random Netflix find that I ended up enjoying way more than I expected, and not--as my wife assumed--just because Olivia Wilde played a stripper. In fact, she's less hot in this than in a lot of movies. Instead, this movie was surprisingly funny, surprisingly sweet, and an entertaining send-up of the Midwest. This is full-on satire territory, and it works.

The film follows the twin story lines of Bob and Laura--a retiring butter-carving champion and his social-status-and-political-aspirant wife--and Destiny, a young foster child looking for a home and with untapped artistic talent. As Laura refuses to give up the status (and the political hopes) that came along with her husband's fame, and as Bob tries to contain the stripper he owes hundreds of dollars to, Destiny tries to make sense of her new foster parents, her blossoming talent, and a world that seems to be more and more challenging every day.

Butter has a lot of unexpected comedy as it allows actors to play with the types of roles they rarely get (except Ty Burrell as Bob, who is yet another fumbling but well meaning dad, though he does have a darker heart here than on Modern Family, and he's so good at that role anyway I don't resent his "Phil with fewer morals" take on the character): Jennifer Garner as a power-hungry shrew and Rob Corddry as a really likable and sweet foster father who just wants to develop a good relationship with Destiny both really stood out, and Yara Shahidi as Destiny was also a delight to watch.

But most enjoyable was the incisive dissection of "heartland values" that tries to expose the gaps that the get-ahead mindset of Reagan-era capitalism and Bush-era fundamentalist values leave on the under-privileged. Without being overtly political, the film exposes Laura's willingness to trample anything in her way to get what she wants, even as she uses traditional American iconic imagery for her own ends. Her final butter sculpture in the film is hilarious in its tastelessness, and it skewers those who rewrite American history to suit their own ends.

At least that's how I saw it. But even if you don't buy or notice the political undertones of the film, it's still really entertaining. And it reminds me that this is one of the things Netflix is great for--to stumble on something you would never seek out on your own, and then to find out how much you enjoy it.

Alternate Film Title: "Movie Orphans Are Always the Cutest and Most Talented Kids--I Wonder If Real Orphans Ever Get a Complex About It"