Butter

Butter was one of those movies that appeared to be going to be released in the theaters and on demand at the same time. My guess is that is a fancy way of saying straight to video but it looked interesting enough for us to give it a look on a recent Saturday night.

One thing is sure the premise of this movie is unique being that it centers on butter sculpturing and the people involved in. Yes that is right, butter.

Bob Pickler is a butter legend. Having won the sculpture contest for the last fifteen years Bob is asked to stand down and give someone else a chance. A little disappointed perhaps Bob ( played by Modern Family's Ty Burrell) accepts this decision graciously. His wife, played by Jennifer Garner, however is less than pleased. Feeling that her status is tied up in being the Butter Kong's wife she is distraught and eventually decides to enter the contest herself.

Bob might be gracious about the contest but Bob also has secrets. Bob out drowning his sorrows at the local strip club invites dancer Brooke into his van for some quality time. Brooke, played by Olivia Wilde, is more than accommodating for a price, they are interrupted however when Bob's wife Laura crashes her car into the van thus interrupting the moment.

Laura and Bob are certainly headed for trouble but nothing is easy for Bob when Brooke shows up the next day on his doorstep asking for the rest of her money for her accompaniment the previous night.

Laura is a shrew, she and Brooke become mortal enemies which causes Brooke to also join the butter contest. Also entering is a young orphan girl, Destiny, who has been adopted by a childless couple played, surprisingly effectively, by comedian Rob Corddry and Alica Silverstone.

This movie is not groundbreaking. It is however one of those movies that is perhaps better than the sum of it's parts and the unique storyline allows it to make some fairly mundane and standard plot points more interesting than they normally woul be. This movie works, the cast is strong, and is certainly worth a viewing.

Ty Burrell seems typecast as the idiot husband and perhaps he would wish for more but he is very effective in portraying that person with a little more depth than we are used to.

A good movie.

Morning Glory

Last night we watched this Rachel McAdams movie. McAdams who I first remembered from The Wedding Crashers plays a much different role in this movie. As Becky Fuller a young woman who has dreamed of working in television news since being a little girl McAdams does not have to stretch far to play the plucky " cute" girl.

Mary Tyler Moore thirty years later would not be a bad set up and in this movie it is quite effective.

After being fired from her job at Good Morning New Jersey she is hired at the network IBS, which is struggling in it's morning show. On her first day she fires the moronic male co host, played by Modern Family's Ty Burrell and is left with just Collen Peck, the long suffering female host. Diane Keaton is very good as Collen.

The show continues to falter, desperate Becky asks about Mike Pomeroy, a veteran of 40 years of hard news, who under contract to the network but living a hermit's existence at home is available. After perusing his contract she visits him and tells him to come to the show or he will have to forfeit the millions left on his contract.

As one would expect he comes begrudgingly. He is a pain in the ass. Confronted with her newsman hero acting like a jackass Becky is perplexed and hurt. Finally told the show is to be cancelled she begs for time, and makes radical changes.

Mike eventually has a softening and the show starts to show signs of life. Due to her success Becky is offered a promotion, she is not going to take it feeling that her new show is a family, Mike disappoints again, setting us up for the aplogoy and reconciliation.

One thing in watching these four movies I ahe reviewed here today is that scriptwriting on many films is just following a formula.

Not a terrible movie, McAdams is perky and cute, Ford is grumpy and old, and Keaton is kind of nondescript. I think it should have been better however with all that star power.