At the Iowa State Fair, few exhibits attract as much attention as the butter sculpture. For the past 15 years, the undisputed champion carver has been Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell), churning out campy, epic-scale tableaux. But now the judges have asked him to retire his trowel and make way for new artists. Bob's prim, prissy, ambitious wife, Laura (Jennifer Garner), is furious; refusing to give up the limelight, she decides to compete herself. So does a sweet-natured, 10-year-old African-American orphan named Destiny (Yara Shahidi), whose unusual talent is encouraged by her supportive foster parents (Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry). Meanwhile, Bob's rebellious teenage daughter (Ashley Greene) is befriended by a brassy, bawdy, gold-digging stripper (Olivia Wilde), who's determined to take monetary advantage of Bob's clandestine visit to the club where she pole-dances. Helmed by British sitcom director Jim Field Smith, Butter is a quirky, offbeat, sociopolitical satire that sat on the shelf too long (obvious allusions to prominent female Republicans come across as stale now). Nevertheless, the amusing, farcical elements remain relevant, skewering small town politics, sanitized hypocrisy, the foster-care system, and Midwestern Tea Party conservatism. Hugh Jackman seems miscast as Laura's old high-school flame turned smarmy car salesman, but Kristen Schaall and Phyllis Smith score in cameos. Recommended, overall.. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted and extended scenes (9 min.), a gag reel (5 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for an often biting satire.] (S. Granger)
Butter
Anchor Bay, 91 min., R, DVD: $24.98, Blu-ray: $29.99, Dec. 4 Volume 28, Issue 1
Butter
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