After watching the opening credits and seeing the well known cast who were starring in this 2011 comedy Butter, Mrs. Shullivan decided to stay up late and watch the film with myself. As it was very late Mrs. Shullivan unknowingly has become the true barometer of how I will eventually rate this film. You see, if she falls asleep early in the film then it must be a dud. If she stays up until the films' end credits then the film must be entertaining sufficiently enough to keep Mrs. Shullivan from her comfortable bed and pillow. (I will give you the resulting film score at the end of my review.)Jennifer Garner and Ty Burrell play a married couple named Laura and Bob Pickler who live a very privileged lifestyle. They have a beautiful up scale style home and they are raising a college aged daughter named Kaitlin (played by Ashley Greene) who dislikes her own parents as they put their silly butter sculpture contests ahead of any other family values. Kaitlin is at that rebellious age and her hormones and excitement get the best of her when she finds out that the mysterious hot lady at their front door who wants to talk to her dad, Bob Pickler, is actually a stripper named Brooke (played by Olivia Wilde) and Brooke is demanding a $600 payment from her dad for services recently rendered.While Laura and Bob Pickler are busily engaged with their hands in their current butter sculpture, their daughter is also busily engaged with her tongue in Brooke the stripper's mouth, learning how to climax properly. Of course this scene has nothing to do with the butter competition but subconsciously, we as parents may get a chuckle out of the scene but may also choose to ask our pwn teenage children what they have been up to lately.The butter carving competition heats up and comes down to the championship battle between Laura Pickler and a cute little 10 year old foster child named Destiny. Destiny is played by the very seasoned child actress named Yara Shahidi, most recently known for playing the oldest teenage daughter Zoey Johnson on the hit comedy TV series Black-ish. Now Destiny has found the one thing that she is extremely good at and that is sculpturing butter. So Mrs. Shullivan was entertained enough such that she stayed up and watched the entire film without falling asleep on the couch or worse yet, abruptly getting up and shuffling off to bed. No Mrs. Shullivan stayed up and when the film ended we agreed that we enjoyed the film but it was the film that ended rather abruptly and not Mrs. Shullivan. I personally felt that the ending came too soon and if I were attempting to draw a parallel I would have to say that I thought I purchased butter, the film only delivered me the lower staple of margarine.I give the film Butter a decent 6 out of 10 rating. The film is certainly targeted for adults who enjoy a bit of raunchiness with their butter. Children under the age of sixteen (16) should not be watching Butter as the language and some sexually inferred scenes are a bit too raunchy for a younger audience.

Thank you Neflix for providing some good films that i've never seen that deserve a viewing. I don't recall this film coming out to theatre or cable. A few big names like Jennifer Garner, but it looked and felt like an Indie budgeted film. This was somewhere between a moral play and a comedy, by current definition a dramedy. The focus was on the crowning small-town Butter carving contest in this slice-of-life tale, the depths of people will go to achieve their objective, and values. I would've enjoyed this more had i seen this before HOME SWEET HELL. They feel like companion films, but vary in tone and target audience. This film had a great cast, concept, and it was original.

Why You Might Like It: If you enjoy goofy and silly movies that set out to mock and poke fun at people who are overzealous about strange things, then this movie is for you. The cast is noticeable (Jennifer Garner, Olivia Wilde, Ashley Greene, etc.) and do a fine job in their roles. Jennifer Garner is particularly good. There are some positive messages that the film gets across that some might find value in.Why You Might Not Like It: The most evident thing to say is that the movie is nothing special and very average. There is no doubt it is goofy and over the top, but it is meant to be. You might also been turned off by the film if you are one of the people that it sets out to mock. It is a fairly ordinary and I don't think anyone should go out of their way to see it. Afterall, the movie is about butter carving.Acting/Casting: 6.5* Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 5.5*Plot/Characters: 5.5* Entertainment Value: 5* Total - 6.5+5.5+5.5+5 = 22.5/4 = 5.625* - Might be Worth watching on TV

Butter is a moderately enjoyable movie that suffers from one major problem. It doesn't know what type of movie it is, or what type of audience its trying to appeal to. The movie feels torn between being a dark comedy and a heart-warming family movie.When Butter focuses on being a feel good movie, it pulls it off relatively well. The little girl (Yara Shahidi) and her foster parents (Corddry and Silverstone) all put in enjoyable performances, and there's a cute little message about loving and caring for others.Where I feel this movie fails is as a dark or black comedy. Its really not very funny, and the offensive/rude humour that randomly pops up feels almost out of place in this movie. Plus the performances for this side fall flat as well. Hugh Jackman is essentially wasted as a stupid car salesman, Ty Burrell just plays a weaker version of his character from Modern Family, and Jennifer Garner's character comes across as an awkward jab at Sarah Palin (who was popular at the time). There's also a meaningless and pointless side story with a stripper that sees basically no resolution in any of the characters it affects.If Butter had focused a little more on the heart-warming side and added a little substance, it could've been pretty good...but instead it tries too hard to be something its not really that good at.