Butter is a delightfully average spread that milks a few laughs -- as long as you don’t sour on a story that struggles to knit two storylines into a whole. But in the end it feels more like half-and-half -- skimmed of any depth in favor with pat and forgettable writing that fails to rise to the top. Puns notwithstanding, this film is cute, earns a few well-deserved laughs, and is completely forgotten minutes later.
Butter spans a year between Iowa State Fairs. Bob Pickler is a legendary butter sculptor, having won the contest for 15 years straight and earned a gala dinner in his honor. His wife, Laura (Jennifer Garner) is one of the narrators, a driven woman who sees her husband’s fame and position as way to climb the social and political ladders. Their daughter, Kaitlin (Ashley Greene), shows up just long enough to provide a plot twist, and is as memorable as any of the Griswald children.
The second narrator is a young, orphan Destiny (the very cute but out-of-depth Yara Shajidi) who is black in the middle of whitest middle America. Her commentary on the “weirdness” of white people is a subtle, uncomfortably recurring theme in her narration, even when she is paired with charming foster parents, Ethan (Rob Corddry) and Jill (Alicia Silverstone, who still moves and acts like her awkward teen self of TV shows past), a very bland, but very caring, white-bread couple.
In the awkwardly told beginning, which is difficult to follow, Destiny finds herself biking to the fair, where Bob’s mostly-finished piece, a carving of the last supper, is nearly complete. She notices the unfinished chalice while Bob is away. Without any apparent motivation or emotional context, she walks in to the air-conditioned box and finishes the chalice.
Bob is quietly asked to stop competing so others might have a chance of winning. Although he accepts the idea, Laura has such a hard time with the idea of losing social status that Bob leaves in a quiet huff for the nearest strip club. Enter Brooke (Olivia Wilde), the stripper who Bob then enters in the back of his minivan. Somehow, Laura has come across this plot device, so she rams his car in serious coitus interruptus.
Bob’s cave-in to the judges, his tryst, and her own drive lead Laura to decide she will enter the competition herself. She leaves him icing his genitals with the kind of fail-safe banter that panders for a laugh, “Theres an advil in the kitchen for your penis.”
Like trying to read a whole highway sign in the middle of a fog, the story continues along without always making sense. In one side story, Brooke pursues Bob for the $600 he owes her, without any luck; but she has better luck later with daughter Kaitlin, who she seduces into giving her $1200. She turns right around to buy Destiny a set of first-rate knives. In another, Laura seduces her old high-school flame, used car salesman Boyd Bolton (played by a suave Hugh Jackman, who struggles a little with the accent), as both tit-for-tat with Bob, and also to employ his skills to sabotage the contest. And there is the competing story of Destiny and her new foster family, and the news that her biological mother had passed.
There is a semi-final that pits Laura against Destiny, a local ditzy friend Carol Anne (Kristen Schall), and Brooke, who enters to spite Bob. Boy’d comes out with accusations, and the validity of the outcome gets called into question. The solution – a second contest at the State fair between Destiny and Laura. In the end, subterfuge winds up being its own greatest enemy.
The story is difficult at times to follow, making the humor hollow. The writing is skillful enough to keep the laughs coming, but the jumbled storytelling lends little context. Having two narrators further complicates the matter, especially as they are prime competitors in this film. Without careful storytelling, it’s easy to lose track of which timeline or character’s perspective is being presented; and that happens too often
That’s not to say it’s not a fun film. It has its moments of both cute and silly, and is not a complete waste of time. It’s a quick 90 minutes and the R rating is surprising as the fare is really tame. But don’t try to think too hard about what’s happening. And five minutes after finishing, you will likely have already forgotten it and moved on.
Rating: 5 of 10 nicotine patches
Pain level: 3
Medication: 600mg gabapentin
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