After a tragic accident, a grieving grandfather is suddenly left to care for his beloved granddaughter. When her paternal grandmother seeks custody with the help of her brother, the little girl is torn between two families who love her deeply. With the best intentions at heart, both families fight for what they feel is right and are soon forced to confront their true feelings about more sensitive subjects.....Well done to Costner for footing the majority of the budget, because if he had not, we wouldn't have been privileged to see such an emotional, brilliantly acted piece of work. And it's a shame that not many people will get to see this film, because it didn't really do that well in the U.S and here in the U.K, it went straight to home cinema.He film is a difficult sell, and the racial undertones can be quite unsettling at times, but the film is about Costner's quest to keep his granddaughter, as the film depicts that her fathers side of the family haven't really been interested, until now.Step in Spencer, who is absolutely fantastic as the grandmother. But just as you expect the film to go into the predictable zone, it surprises the viewer by showing that despite the feud that is going on, the two grandparents are quite amicable with each other, it's what's going on beyond this relationship where the bad blood lies.Step in the father, who Costner blames for the death of his daughter (although this is never fully explained, the films only real flaw), and this brings back emotions, and makes him just ever so slightly more aggressive toward his loved ones, which doesn't help his cause.For such an important film, there is a lot of humour scattered around, but it works, despite the fact that it is focusing on Costner's drinking problem, which is a pivotal point of the narrative, because there are times you really think he's going to lose it with his grand daughter.But all in all, it's a wonderful film, and Costner hasn't been this good in a long time.I urge you to seek it out.

As movie genres go, the race-based social drama has always been a bit of a minefield for those willing to try to tiptoe their way across it. The risks are many. Either you wind up indulging in offensive stereotypes, or you go so overboard in the opposite direction that you transform some of the uglier realities of life into a sugarcoated pill largely designed to make the audience feel better about themselves and the world around them.I'm here to report that "Black or White," written and directed by Mike Binder, makes it through the minefield largely intact, but there are definitely a few minor explosions along the way. Based loosely on a true story, the movie features Kevin Costner as a recently widowed grandfather of a mixed-race child (Jillian Estell) whom he and his late wife raised as their own when their daughter died in childbirth. Now that he's on his own, some interested parties are beginning to question whether Elliot is truly fit to parent the child full-time.Elliot's main challenger in this regard is Eloise's paternal grandmother, Rowena Jeffers (Octavia Spencer), a successful small business woman with a large and thriving family, the sole exception being Reggie (Andre Holland), the girl's father, who is both a crack addict and a habitual lawbreaker. However, Elliot has his own trouble with addiction, in his case alcohol, which pretty much neutralizes his argument against having Reggie in little Eloise's life.Despite a certain slickness in its execution, "Black or White" achieves some truth by not picking sides, by allowing all the concerned parties to make their case without undue favoritism or judgment. Yet, in scope and execution. the movie ultimately feels too "small" for the subject it's attempting to tackle, a condition highlighted by the film's unfortunate slide into cheap melodrama towards the end."Black or White" is ultimately a minor addition to the long list of movies that have explored race relations lo these many decades, but its evenhandedness and sincerity make it one of the good ones.

So the plot goes like this. A child whose father is black and mother is white has been raised by the child's white grandparents since she was born because the white mother died during child birth and the black father is off somewhere doing drugs.When the white grandmother dies the black auntie decides that she can't be raised by a crusty old white guy and launches a baseless legal action to obtain custody. Then of the course the black father also turns up, acts like an A-hole and now wants to pursue custody. So you have pointless legal showdown with almost no drama, few plot twists and even some lack of understanding of legal proceedings all to show the audience why a crusty white alcoholic is better than a black family.

I'm sorry people, but this movie is nothing more than a vehicle for Kevin Costner and Octavia whatever her name is to do some "acting". There is nothing real about this film, everyone is a caricature. The white people, the black people. You never feel for a second that either grand parent loves the girl.(who is also a caricature and is the wisest, most well spoken 9 year old I've ever seen, did I mention adorable?) The court room scenes are so hokey it's almost laughable. The no nonsense black judge, that does nothing but put up with nonsense in her courtroom. The crack head son in law, I mean c'mon, it's like they don't even try anymore. It was truly an uninspiring time waster.