Reviews are breaking for one of the season’s biggest movies based on a book, The Help. Disney imposed an embargo until yesterday, the movie’s opening day, but that was broken by many bloggers, including Tyler Perry, who shared his enthusiasm with his fans. The studio is concerned about the movie’s reception as evidenced by a special NAACP screening, part of what the L.A. Times refers to as Dreamwork’s “delicate task of selling the film to moviegoers, black and white, who might be reluctant to rekindle unpleasant memories of segregation.” UPDATE, 8/11: The Assoc. of Black Women Historians issued a statement about The Help, saying it, “distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers.” (via Entertainment Weekly).

On NPR’s FreshAir yesterday, David Edelstein says the movie is heavy-handed, but saved by strong acting. The Christian Science Monitor rounded up the reviews so far, calling them “mixed, but mostly positive.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 11th, 2011 at 9:07 am and is filed under Books & Movies, Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.