This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Like a companion piece to Election, Alexander Payne's magna opus to the steel hearted, uber frau willing to steamroll over every & all people in order to get ahead, Butter turns over simple Midwestern values on its head by exposing the hypocrisies & irregularities of the common man or in this case woman. Missing more than hitting, Butter churns (sorry!) at a predictable pace occasionally striking the scared cows it aims at w/a game cast including Jennifer Garner, Olivia Wilde, Ty Burrell & 'Clueless" herself, Alicia Silverstone but unlike Payne's films which often pierce their subject matters so hard it hurts, Butter barely leaves a bruise.

The premise Butter has promise, but the film makes no emotional sense, and it regards most of its characters as objects of scorn. When Laura discovers an important secret that her husband had been hiding, she's moved initially to violence. But for most of the rest of the movie, there are no consequences to her discovery -- Bob and Laura continue their marriage as they had before. When Destiny learns a crucial and life-changing fact about her mother, she says a rather pleasant and positive prayer, though the revelation should most likely have been shattering. And it's unclear why the supporting characters of Brooke and Carol Ann are in the film at all -- their actions lead to nothing. Brooke at least has something of a through-line. Carol Ann just disappears for some reason. Both characters are distractions from the main conflict between Destiny and Laura. But what a confusing conflict. One moment, Destiny and Laura find a way to connect, but a minute later, for no apparent reason, one is planning on kicking the other's ass. In general, the characters make emotional leaps we cannot follow, and similarly, when a major emotional shift should occur, nothing happens. It's as if the filmmaker just doesn't know how emotions work.Then there is the ignorance. The film is set in Iowa City, but not a single scene resembles anything in that city. Iowa City is not, contrary to the filmmaker's belief, a giant cornfield with a scatter of houses. It's a major -- and very liberal -- university city. People don't wear cowboy hats, as Hugh Jackman's smarmy character did, and people don't have whatever accent(s) the actors were attempting, which sounded like half-hearted Fargo impersonations.Most unpleasant, however, was the breathtaking condescension of the film. All the white Iowans were amiably harmless at best (as in Alicia Silverstone's sadly underutilized Jill) or racist hicks at worst. The film has no affection for the foibles of its characters, which means the viewer likewise doesn't empathize with the bumpkins populating "Iowa City." We're clearly meant to regard almost every character with disdain.The one major exception is Destiny, a precocious 10-year-old who is, I am sad to say, nothing more or less than a Magical Negro, there to teach the misguided country white folk of Iowa City important life lessons. It's a tiresome and racist trope.What a shame, that with such a fine cast and such a fine premise, the filmmaker's distaste for people who live in flyover country got in the way and ruined what could have been a charming film.

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.

This movie in it an attempt to be non-p.c. makes ALL kinds of grotesque generalizations and stereotypes. It is so filled with grotesqueries that frankly it made it a struggle to sit through. I did sit through it though...just to see if it could and would redeem itself. It doesn't.Perhaps there are people and places that are this ridiculous but let's say for the sake of comedic exaggeration, it's sloppy gratuitous, disjointed and all over the place. In the end, the sentimental and gooey moralism tries to tie it all together but it falls flat and makes it more banal than it's already worked itself up to be. A a tragic piece of work from writers who have no real message and a director who has clearly gotten lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with talented people. Don't waste your time with this.