80.0°,
Partly Cloudy Butter – Wicked Fun in the Midwest
At the Movies with James Delson
*** 1/2 out of *****
Running time: 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R for Language, sexual content, brief drug use.
This dark satire of sexual politics, American social mores and family values just misses being one of the year’s most entertaining and devilish comedies. Its final act is a bit too pat and predictable, and several of its top-notch cast members are underused, but it’s an offbeat delight.
Set in and around the prelims for Iowa’s annual butter-carving competition, the film merges a sharp dissection of lust, greed and megalomania with the more-or-less straight subplot of a foster child’s search for love and acceptance.
Director Jim Field Smith, and screenwriter Jason A. Metcalf nearly pull off this challenging and sophisticated project. For most of the time they successfully mix Robert Altman’s style of anarchic multi-character storytelling with the darkly amusing political satire of Barry Levinson’s Wag the Dog and the human interest comedy of Little Miss Sunshine. But the task simply proves too difficult to be sustained from beginning to end.
Several other elements support the structure’s inconsistencies, however. One of these is Jennifer Garner’s outstanding performance as a nightmare of a cold-hearted control freak. It’s her best part since 13 Going on 30. Two other actors bring enormous support as well: Olivia Wilde as a stripper determined to engineer Garner’s downfall and young Yara Shahidi as the gifted foster child.
A disappointment, if not actually a failing of Butter, is the underuse of such top-notch comedians as Rob Corddry, Ty Burrell, Hugh Jackman, Alicia Silverstone and Kristin Schall, who are given little to do in parts that amount to cameos. Unlike Altman, Field Smith doesn’t yet have the skills to fully manage his ensemble with a veteran’s skill.
In the end, Butter is a challenging, funny alternative to most of the simplistic comedies which populate the multiplexes. It’s worth your time on the big screen, and is also available On Demand through Amazon.com.
