Is this a chick flick?
It seems to me that movies primarily perceived as being directed toward women rarely receive attention from Oscar. I suspect that this is because most movies directed primarily toward women suck. Sure, I love a sappy chick flick once in a while, but let’s face it – they’re just brain candy. It doesn’t happen that often that a film with an almost entirely female cast is actually written, produced and marketed as a serious box office and awards contender. But The Help is one of those films.
Based on the massively popular book by Kathryn Stockett, The Help had two strikes against it before filming a single scene. First, everybody loves to rip apart movies based on books they love. Second, it’s a Girl Story. About Girls. Without very many Men. Would any men see it? Would the very conservative and traditional Academy (who honored a woman as Best Director for the first time last year) be able to look past all that estrogen and evaluate the film on its relative merits?
It seems like the answer is yes and The Help got a nod as a Best Picture nominee this year. I doubt it will win, but it isn’t really good enough to win. Not that I’ve seen anything better, but a win for The Help would be sort of like a Driving Miss Daisy award. Nice, but….really?
Nevertheless, it’s better than War Horse, Moneyball, or even Hugo. So right now it’s at the top of my list. We’ll see what the other nominees have to top it. You can read my full review here. Next up on the Oscar nominee hit parade? Midnight in Paris reviewed by a special guest reviewer.
2012 Oscar Nominees Reviewed on Movie Rewind
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.
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