Black or White

Out today, Black or White is a family drama for better or worse.

 

Black or White (Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer, Jillian Estell, Anthony Mackie) – Director/writer Mike Binder and actor/producer Kevin Costner collaborated in The Upside of Anger, an underrated movie featuring Joan Allen and an all-star cast of soon-to-be stars (Keri Russell, Evan Rachel Wood, Alicia Witt and Erika Christensen).  It was a family comedy-drama.  Black or White is essentially the same movie, just not as good.

 

Costner plays a rich Beverly Hills lawyer who, along with his wife, has been raising his biracial granddaughter due to the death of their daughter in childbirth.  It is an idyllic relationship in an idyllic home in the lap of luxury.  The movie opens outside the emergency room of the hospital where Costner’s character, Elliot Anderson, has just found out that his beloved wife has died in a car accident.  He is lost and angry.  Now he has to tell Eloise, his granddaughter, who he calls “puppy.”  As in all movies, the kids seem to be more mature than the adults, and Eloise (an incredibly talented youngster named Jillian Estell) is no exception.

 

Elliott dotes on Puppy, protects her from the evil in the world and sends her to one of the finest private schools.  Elliott is comfortable and casual with Eloise’s other grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer), and her large and extended family.  They seem perfectly comfortable with him even though their lives and their neighborhoods couldn’t be more different.  Rowena is an entrepreneur who owns six businesses, three homes and adopts kids in order to provide a safe and healthy environment within the confines of Compton, California, in the midst of South Central L.A.  She doesn’t think that Elliott is capable of taking care of Eloise himself albeit with his maid, tutors, and unlimited financial capacity.  Eloise needs a female role model, a mother substitute.  She wants Eloise to live with her.  Elliott doesn’t.

 

Frankly, there isn’t an ounce of racism in either of them.  But race itself is certainly a real issue.  To get the child, Octavia’s brother, an attorney (played by Anthony Mackie), wants to paint Elliott as a racist; Rowena is hesitant.  It is a factor for why Elliott loathes Octavia’s son, Reggie, who abandons the child and Elliott’s daughter.  Reggie is a drug addict allegedly trying to get his act together.  And while Octavia reads people well, she is blind to Reggie’s all-too-obvious and overwhelming faults.  On the other hand, Elliott sees nothing but his flaws.  And poor Eloise just wants to spend time with her father but not lose her relationship with Papa Elliott or Grandma Weewee (Rowena).

 

At this point, I will tell you that I could write two different reviews – one slamming this film as trite, soap opera-like, convenient, and cartoonist; and one that credits the film with showing the corollaries between Elliott’s dependence on booze and Reggie’s dependence on drugs while showing everyone’s commitment to family and to the welfare of the child.  I will let you decide.  I don’t think there is middle ground.  You are either going to really like this or totally hate it.

 

In terms of performances, little Jillian steals the show but Octavia Spencer as Rowena is incapable of being upstaged.  She is a modern-day Minnie Jackson from The Help (for which she won an Oscar).  I don’t think she is capable of an understated performance; she just overwhelms the screen, and I mean that in a good way.  Costner is (well) average as usual.  No gravitas and not convincing as a drunk or a lawyer, he is best in his scenes with Eloise.

 

Good for Kevin for spending his own money and effort to bring this somewhat true story to the screen.  A better actor would have helped the film but probably not the box office sales.  Black or White, an unfortunate title to capitalize on the current race debate, is either an endearing and uplifting story of hope or a trite Movie of the Week not ready for prime time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *