Octavia Spencer, right, and Viola Davis are shown in a scene from “The Help.” (Dale Robinette/Disney/The Associated Press)
It is often very hard to make a good book into a good movie, just ask the people who made “The DaVinci Code.” However, there is sometimes an exception to this rule, particularly in the case of this summer’s best movie, “The Help.”
Adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s mega-hit book of the same name, “The Help,” follows a young journalist, Skeeter Phelan, as she embarks on a crusade to tell the stories of the maids in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi.
Leading the cast of stellar actors is none other than one of the summer’s biggest stars, Emma Stone.
Stone, a mainstay of teenage comedies, finally gets her breakout role as the snappy young Skeeter.
After graduating from Ole Miss, something none of her friends did, Skeeter returns back to her roots in Jackson, hoping to make it as a writer. Her first job comes from the Jackson Journal, when she gets chosen to write the “Ms. Myrna,” beat, the paper’s domestic advice column.
However, after receiving an encouraging letter from a wise editor at Harper & Roe, Ms. Phelan finally discovers what she wants to write about – the help.
Skeeter first reaches out to Abileen, her friend Elizabeth’s maid. Abileen is played stoically by none other than Viola Davis. Davis leaves nothing on the screen, and her performance as the heartbroken, yet determined maid is nothing short of Oscar-worthy. Davis magically knows when to make her audience laugh, and when to make her audience cry, both of which she does quite often.
Shortly after Skeeter and Abileen get together, Abileen convinces her outspoken friend, Minnie Jackson to follow suit. Minnie, played by Octavia Spencer, complements Abileen perfectly. Just like Emma Stone, Octavia uses her role to show Hollywood just how great of an actress she is.
When both Minnie and Abileen are together in a scene, cinematic perfection follows. There has never been a pair of actresses who fit so well together since Thelma & Louise.
Perhaps the movie’s biggest surprise comes from Bryce Dallas Howard and her role as the villain Hillie Holbrook.
With high hair and an evil scowl, Holbrook uses fear and gossip to get her way. Hoping to pass an initiative that would force maids to have their own bathroom, Holbrook is the devil in a blue dress. Much of the movie’s comedic relief comes from the on-going story line between Minnie Jackson, Hillie Holbrook, and Ms. Jackson’s special pie.
Running a refreshingly lengthy 137 minutes, “The Help” has numerous subplots that help drive the story along. The best of these come from Minnie Jackson and the friendship she creates with the town cast-off, Celia Foote, played by Jessica Chastain. Ms. Foote finds herself banished from Jackson’s social events after marrying Johnny Foote, who was once the boyfriend to none other than Hillie Holbrook herself.
In comparison to the book, “The Help’s” feature length adaption may take a few different turns, but the ultimate destination is still the same.
Directed by Kathryn Stockett’s longtime friend, Tate Taylor, the film’s scenes are a tad bit short, but with the bulk of information Taylor was given in Stockett’s novel, the first-time director did an admirable job.
However, Taylor sometimes failed to show exactly how much danger Skeeter and the maids were in while writing the book, if the only consequence was a mean look from Hillie Holbrook, why were they being so careful? Taylor failed to setup Jackson as the tense climate it was in the early 1960s.
Set during the backdrop of one of America’s most exciting times, “The Help” is deceptively heavy just as it is light. Tinged with racism and backward thinking, “The Help” is a history book with heart.
Refusing to join the ranks of other bestsellers gone broke at the box office, “The Help” does its original book justice, using it merely as a blueprint to build one hell of a movie.
