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THE HELPMovie Reviews
Drama about three women in Mississippi during the 1960s who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. Cast:Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia L. SpencerDirector:Tate TaylorRelease Date:August 10, 2011DVD Release:December 6, 2011From:DreamworksRating:PG-13Length:2 hr. 17 min.
The Help played to very good reviews that at the same time were mixed. • David Denby wrote in the New Yorker, "...parts of it are so moving and well acted that any objections to what's second-rate seem to matter less as the movie goes on..." • And Wesley Morris wrote in the Boston Globe, "...too pious for farce and too eager to please..." More Reviews Below...
The Help Positive Reviews (49 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: VERY GOOD(cg) "...for a film born of suffering and steeped in controversy, it's highly entertaining.... it's funny when it needs to be and stays with you in the best ways."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 239 words, 08/11/11
Mary Pols, Time: GOOD "It's easy to pick sides, easy to feel good... But there is nothing easy about Viola Davis' uncompromising performance. She makes 'The Help' impossible to dismiss."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 699 words, 08/10/11
David Germain, Associated Press: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...popular big-screen entertainment at its best. Provocative without turning preachy, tender without tumbling into sentimentality... above all enormously enjoyable."(See all of David Germain's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,019 words, 08/09/11
Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...compelling, complicated story about love and hatred across racial lines delivers an instant classic that's faithful to the novel -- and will also inspire new fans."(See all of Thelma Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 116 words, 08/11/11
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...emotionally enveloping, sharply alive.... there isn't a caricature in it. Every woman on screen is fresh, live, and three-dimensional... a stirring salute..."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 755 words, 08/12/11
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...deeply touching... Short on style and flashy technique [but] compensates with genuine emotional force.... The actors are sublime.... an intimate epic."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 458 words, 08/05/11
Claudia Puig, USA Today: VERY GOOD(cg) "...sidesteps easy sentimentality. As the film's heart and soul, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer add vast reserves of depth and dignity to a crowd-pleasing tale."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 482 words, 08/10/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a good film, involving and wonderfully acted. I was drawn into the characters and quite moved, even though all the while I was aware it was a feel-good fable..."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 689 words, 08/10/11
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: MODERATE(cg) "...there are fleeting moments when a better, truer, almost good movie seems to be struggling to the surface in spite of itself."(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 725 words, 08/08/11
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: FAIR "...a big, ole slab of honey-glazed hokum.... cautious, at times bizarrely buoyant... the performances are almost all overly broad, sometimes excruciatingly so..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,146 words, 08/10/11
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: WEAK(cg) "...noticeably lacking in novelist Kathryn Stockett's instinctive nuance.... details are often overlooked, the major themes are thrust on screen with forceful simplicity..."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 418 words, 08/10/11
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...a delicious peppery stew of home-cooked, 1960s Southern-style racism that serves up a soulful dish of what ails us and what heals us."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,204 words, 08/10/11
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...some film adaptations owe their success primarily to the rightness of the casting.... Viola Davis creates a whole character we care about, and feel we know..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 716 words, 08/10/11
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...incredibly refreshing.... succeeds precisely because it never overdoes the hand-wringing. 'The Help' is one thing message movies rarely are: It's fun."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 341 words, 08/11/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a good film, involving and wonderfully acted. I was drawn into the characters and quite moved, even though all the while I was aware it was a feel-good fable..."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 689 words, 08/10/11
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD(cg) "We find little in the way of revelation about racial inequality in America, but fodder to make us think, which may be all that can be expected..."(See all of Linda Barnard's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 889 words, 08/10/11
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "At a running time well over two hours, the film realistically captures the eternal fight for civil rights in one crucial regard: It too seems without end."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 849 words, 08/10/11
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the Junior League matrons exploiting the help - especially Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly - play their parts to stereotypically shrieking heights."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 168 words, 08/11/11
KEY CITIES (13 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: MODERATE(cg) "...precisely at the time that 'The Help' transpires, African Americans across Mississippi were registering to vote and agitating for political change."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 802 words, 08/10/11
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a movie of imaginative sympathy that gets into the skin of its characters, into their hearts, and, ultimately, into ours."(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 695 words, 08/10/11
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...transcends its comfort-food-for-Oprah's Book Club wrapping to get at something deeper, the gray in a story that seems so far removed as to be utterly black and white."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 707 words, 08/10/11
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...will trigger conspicuous Kleenex consumption and then, having broken the viewers' hearts, carefully mend them.... has a mature appreciation of human truth."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 742 words, 08/10/11
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: VERY GOOD(cg) "The acting is uniformly excellent, and the cause couldn't be nobler. What the film lacks is a strong point of view. The story is all over the place on that front..."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 719 words, 08/10/11
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...too pious for farce and too eager to please... another Hollywood movie that sees racial progress as the province of white do-gooderism."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,271 words, 08/10/11
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: VERY GOOD(cg) "...while 'The Help' is wholly entertaining, you never get the sense it's telling you the whole story.... it asks hard questions about class and color and child care."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 523 words, 08/10/11
Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "...splendid entertainment - a film that makes us root for the good guys, hiss at the bad and convulse in laughter when good wreaks vengeance with a smile."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 520 words, 08/10/11
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...it's a rare treat to see a movie focusing on such a strong female ensemble. Director Tate Taylor and the actresses do well with the small moments..."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 644 words, 08/12/11
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...those of us who already know that racism is bad could use a little more challenge and a little less help."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 390 words, 08/10/11
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...polishes the civil rights era like its heroic maids shine the silverware.... doesn't take it as seriously as the subject deserves."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 540 words, 08/11/11
Tom Long, Detroit News: EXCELLENT(cg) "Appalling, entertaining, touching and perhaps even a bit healing... an old-fashioned grand yarn of a film, the sort we rarely get these days. Rich indeed."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 555 words, 08/10/11
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "...never loses sight of the sharp edge of casual, pervasive racism and how it poisons the lives of everyone -- black and white -- in early 1960s Jackson, Mississippi."(See all of Connie Ogle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 633 words, 08/10/11
Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend: EXCELLENT(cg) "Moving and powerful.... Sporting some of the greatest actresses, both young and veteran, working in Hollywood today, 'The Help' is stacked from top to bottom."(See all of Eric Eisenberg's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 733 words, 08/09/11
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: POOR(cg) "Like 'The Blind Side,' salves white guilt by scapegoating the wrong villains, crediting the wrong heroes, and exploiting the victims."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 157 words, 08/11/11
Andrew Schenker, Slant: POOR(cg) "High school creative-writing-class ironies of all kinds abound... its attitude toward the whole racist setup reeks of a toned-down paternalism."(See all of Andrew Schenker's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 808 words, 08/09/11
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the Junior League matrons exploiting the help - especially Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly - play their parts to stereotypically shrieking heights."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 168 words, 08/11/11
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "...captures all the humidity of Civil Rights-era Mississippi, but scarcely any of the dramatic heat.... lurches awkwardly between manipulative pathos and kitschy comedy."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 517 words, 08/10/11
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...there's nothing of the chick-flick ghetto about this movie. If movies that're all men and no women can be universal, so can this one."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 971 words, 10/20/11
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: FAIR "...a big, ole slab of honey-glazed hokum.... cautious, at times bizarrely buoyant... the performances are almost all overly broad, sometimes excruciatingly so..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,146 words, 08/10/11
David Denby, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "...parts of it are so moving and well acted that any objections to what's second-rate seem to matter less as the movie goes on..."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,493 words, 08/08/11
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...a delicious peppery stew of home-cooked, 1960s Southern-style racism that serves up a soulful dish of what ails us and what heals us."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,204 words, 08/10/11
Dana Stevens, Slate: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...a high-functioning tearjerker, but the catharsis it offers feels glib and insufficient, a Barbie Band-Aid on the still-raw wound of race relations in America."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 748 words, 08/11/11
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: EXCELLENT "You could also describe it as an accretion of familiar ingredients: 'Mad Men' plus 'Steel Magnolias' plus 'To Kill a Mockingbird' plus 'Mississippi Burning.' "(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,046 words, 08/09/11
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: MODERATE "...self-conscious and self-congratulatory portrait of the Jim Crow South does at least contain two magnificent, award-worthy performances by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,018 words, 08/07/11
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...a delicious peppery stew of home-cooked, 1960s Southern-style racism that serves up a soulful dish of what ails us and what heals us."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,204 words, 08/10/11
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: GOOD(cg) "Episodic to a fault, and old-fashioned in execution.... vacillating between poignant and serious moments to some that are trivial and overtly comedic in their eagerness to please."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 682 words, 08/10/11
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: FAIR "...a big, ole slab of honey-glazed hokum.... cautious, at times bizarrely buoyant... the performances are almost all overly broad, sometimes excruciatingly so..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,146 words, 08/10/11
21.7 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Help's reviews are separated by an average 21.7 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Help (49 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Help's reviews cover 98.8% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 35,187 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 718 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Help Coverage, Volume & Length (49 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 4.3 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Help's reviews on average broke 4.3 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Help's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
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