Olsen vs. Farber Over The Help
A couple of Sundays ago in the L.A. Times seasoned critic Stephen Farber praised The Help in a curious way. Rather than shrugging his shoulders and going easy on the fact that it’s a safe middlebrow film, Farber doubled-down and praised it for that. “Hmm, middlebrow…good!”
Appalled, Mark Olsen went to his LA Times editors and asked to write a retort. In so doing he managed to praise Amigo, Bellflower, The Color Wheel, Dennis Hopper and quote Neil Young. Here‘s what he wrote.
Olsen pull-quote #1: “The retort to Farber’s position is simply and obviously this: Today is not 50 years ago…and the best films should aim to reflect that with a clear-eyed awareness in their context and perspective and a strong reach for more.”
Olsen pull-quote #2: “The problem is not with the middlebrow in itself — and really, a film such as Bridesmaids likely represents the true New Middle more than The Help — the problem lies with opting for the obvious and becoming complicit with the incurious. Aiming for the middle is too often an excuse to aim too low.”
The Help is a monster sleeper hit. That’s the only retort that matters.
The Help is movie for old people. Old white people get to reminisce about the good old days and old black people can go see this and remember their childhoods when all black people in movies were maids.
The above post written by….um….”bitplaya”…is obviously written by someone who hasn’t seen a frame of the film. If that is what you think the film is about, then you are as stupid as your name.
Farber comes really, really close to having a point – post-Cahiers critics tend to be from the watch-everything/film-as-a-lifestyle school and respond more to extremes of REALLY “highbrow” or REALLY “lowbrow” ignoring perfectly-good mid-level stuff – but loses it when he starts suggesting that the reasons such films should be recognized is because they have something “important” to say.
Sorry, that’s bullshit. “Judgement at Nuremberg” is not a great film because it taught people some important lesson (what would that even be? “Nazis are bad?” WHERE is that a “lesson?”) it’s a great film because it’s staggeringly well-made and well-written. “The Help” is a high-budget Hallmark melodrama, blandly directed, with a cloying script and one or two semi-transcendant performances.
This whole debate over The Help is, frankly, tired and a very clear sign that the majority of the films’ critics are really out of touch with why people go to the movies. The movie is polished, beautifully acted, sensitive in the best ways without being maudlin, has an ensemble of very interesting women (both black and white) and most importantly, delivers an emotional payoff lacking in about 98% of studio movies today — that is really all that matters, at least to the majority of moviegoers. How someone could find this movie (as well-meaning and at-times graceful as it is) to be offensive is pure horseshit. I had zero expectations for this one and hadn’t a clue about the book, but I can tell you that Davis, Spencer, Stone, Janney, Tyson and even Howard unexpectedly moved me at different points in this film. I couldn’t give a shit if it’s 100% accurate or not, if it perpetuates “mammy” stereotypes (which it does not, the women are all three-dimensional) or whatever shit is being levied at it — this sleeper is headed to an Oscar nod, deservedly.
bobbyperu is certainly entitled to his opinion, but if he’s going to have THAT one, he might wanna consider changing his moniker. Being “moved” by a film of this ilk is not something the REAL Bobby Peru would ever cop to.
I’m sorry, I forgot, there IS no “real” Bobby Peru. Never mind.
I don’t think “The Help” is terrible, nor offensive, but it is pretty bad – broad, oversweetened, terribly cloying. The last thirty minutes are like a blitzkrieg of teary-eyed confrontations which vary from satisfying to queasy.
And honestly, I thought the biggest problem with the film (and obviously of the book, as well) is that it’s framed around Emma Stone. Not only is she miscast, but that character is a bore, and frankly, came with one of the most tacked-on, fruitless relationships I’ve seen.
But I swear, every time Viola Davis opened her mouth it was like I was welling up – she’s really the only exceptional aspect of the whole film.
if you want to see a film that revolves around realistic and absorbing women’s characters see Our Idiot Brother not The Help
Wondering if Farbersheds tears for those golden days when he wrote for NEW WEST–where he likelu would have panned or given at best a lukewarm review to THE HELP.
I don’t think it’s a good movie because they obviously didn’t spend enough time discussing that SHIT PIE.
Uh, Farber’s piece peeved me so much I took a swing at it, too (Gentlepromote, the broadcast form of ‘humblebrag’). My opbejction was as follows:
“In this Sunday’s L.A. Times, critic and writer Stephen Farber contributed a piece … lamenting the cold critical reception offered by some to “The Help,” opening with the statement “If it had been released 50 years ago, “The Help” would have been the cinematic event of the summer. ” … I was more confused by his article than convinced, and I can tell you why. The simple fact is that, to paraphrase Mr. Farber’s opening sentence, if it had been released 50 years ago, “The Help” would have been a commentary on the issues of the day, not a cozy narcotic of nostalgia. ”
The rest of it is here — http://on-msn.com/qcjONS — but, uh, yeah. The Help is another reminder that, in the words of Wes Craven ‘The MPAA would like it if every movie were an advertisement for ‘the good life’” — and how much of our Fiction hurts Fact.
Actually, I do remember Farber giving a shoutout to a middlebrow film (that no one remembers now) during his NEW WEST tenure: Jerome Hellman’s PROMISES IN THE DARK with Kathleen Beller as a teen cancer patient and Marsha Mason as her doctor.
Mostly during Farber’s NEW WEST period, I remember him waxing eloquent on then-Baby Moguls at the studios who used to be SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) members in the 60s.
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The on top of post written by….um….Gogole “bitplaya”…is obviously written by somebody who hasn’t seen a frame of the film. If that’s what you’re thinking that the film is concerning, then you’re as stupid as your name.
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Olsen vs. Farber will be over in the first round.
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the problem lies with opting for the obvious and becoming complicit with the incurious. Aiming for the middle is too often an excuse to aim too low.” concrete grinding