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Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia L. Spencer, Jessica Chastain ... see more see more... , Ahna O'Reilly , Allison Janney , Anna Camp , Eleanor Henry , Emma Henry , Chris Lowell , Cicely Tyson , Mike Vogel , Sissy Spacek , Brian Kerwin , Wes Chatham , Aunjanue Ellis , Ted Welch , Shane McRae , Roslyn Ruff , Tarra Riggs , Leslie Jordan , Mary Steenburgen , Tiffany Brouwer , Carol Lee , Carol Sutton , Millicent Bolton , Ashley Johnson , Ritchie Montgomery , Constantine Jefferson

The Help stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny-three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship a... read more read more...round a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed-even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times. -- (C) DreamWorks

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90% liked it

65,519 ratings

Critics

76% liked it

197 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 17 min.

Directed by: Tate Taylor

Release Date: August 10, 2011

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DVD Release Date: December 6, 2011

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Stats: 7,876 reviews

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Viola Davis Viola Davis Jessica Chastain Allison Janney Emma Stone Emma Stone Emma Stone Emma Stone Emma Stone Jessica Chastain Emma Stone The Help The Help
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Flixster Reviews (7,876)

  • FiLmCrAzY
    May 5, 2012
    FiLmCrAzY
    I absolutely loved this movie, i thought it was a really emotional, at times heart breaking, it was funny and exceptionally acted!
    This movie is brilliant throughout although maybe a little slow theres enough humour to keep you interested!
    Its a powerful story about a white woma... read moren clearly influenced by her own experiences with The Help that she decides to write a story, or a true account of collections straight from The Helps mouths!
    It truly is a fantastic movie it is brilliant and i loved every minute of it !
  • cosmo313
    April 15, 2012
    cosmo313
    I really had my doubts about this movie, fearing that it would be another typical "white messiah helps African Americans in need" film. And, while there are some elements of that in here, thankfully, the film shows that the whites need help from the blacks, too, so it's not a one... read more sided affair.

    Set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, the story follows Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a recent college grad who, instead of hunting for a husband, wants to embark on a career as a writer. Inspired by her own upbringing and disgusted by the racism of her colleagues and friends she'd lost touch with, she decides to write about racial issues from the perspective of the help- the maids who spend their lives raising white children who sadly tend to grow up to be just like their parents.

    Along the way, the film touches upon some really big issues, and gets into various facets of the time period during this volatile era. It's a noble and well meaning film, but, it still plays it safe and sugar coated for the most part. Oh sure, there are some times when it gets edgy, but ultimately the film fails to be as powerful as it should be since it doesn't take that many risks. Also, it doesn't help that it tries to do soo much, but handles it all by just glossing over thngs and painting with broad strokes.

    The film gets the pont across of course, but the scholar in me can't help but take issue with the end result. Maybe had the script been more risky, less Hollywood, less feel good, and more concerned with why this era and all the minutae of race relations are so volatile, the end result could have been more powerful. That, and making it a miniseries to really flesh out the details and characterizations wouldn't have hurt, either.

    I will defend this film though, because it at least tries to be important, even if it doesn't quite do it in the best way. That, and the acting is wonderful (for the most part), with some really great moments, and a decent balance between humor and heartbreaking. Indeed, this is a moving film, and I admittedly did tear up multiple times...just like I was supposed to.

    Emma Stone is great as Skeeter, showing her range as an actress, with a solid turn in a rahter thankless role. Bryce Dalls Howard shines as the malevolently vile and racist socialite ringleader Hilly, although the part is written so cartoonishly, the one dimensionalness of the character takes off the edge and insight needed to make her seem like a real character. Still though, Howard sells it nicely. Jessica Chastain, as the outcast naive socialite with a white trash background is tricky. She seems cartoony at first, but Chastain's performance saves things, and the character does actually become one to care about, though some of the pandering is a bit uncomfortable. The real stars and emotional core of the film though, are Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. They are the true focus of the film, and provide the strongest performances. They are the ones we care about the most, and the accolades they got were well deserved. Both Davis and Spencer got Oscar nods (with Spencer winning), and despite Spike Lee missing the point, this is a high point for the world of African American thespians. As much as I loved these two, especially Spencer, who steals both the dramatic and comedic scenes, I think my favortie performer had to be Sissy Spacek as Hilly's mother- a character who really draws some of the best non Spencer generated laughs.

    Okay, so I've rambled on for quite a while with this one. I can't help it. Films like these just bring it out in me, and it's easy to get worked up with materia llike this. I'm giving this film extra credit for the cast, cinematography, performances, and nobleness of it all, though I just wish that people would be more fearless when dealing with material like this, no matter how painful or incendiary.
  • fb701560354
    April 4, 2012
    fb701560354
    Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Emma Stone give stunningly powerful performances in The Help. The powerful performances are what drives this film, and I hate to think what a mess it probably would have been if it weren't for these gifted ... read moreactresses. Tate Taylor has done a relatively good job adapting the rather large novel into a rather long movie, and sometimes I found myself confused at jumps the plot had made and had expected the audience to just follow along. I think the plot wasn't given as much thought and careful construction as the performances were, but the story is still extremely powerful and moving. I guess one could also say that the film glosses over it's racial themes, but I think they keep enough of it in there so that the audience knows it's an issue. I mean, it's not really the focus of the film. The focus is definitely about the racial gap at the time, but it's not a history lesson, it's a character study on a few people who dared to bring the truth out into the open. Overall, The Help is hugely bolstered by the extremely powerful performances from the cast, but it's a good film that is definitely worth seeing.
  • SirPant
    March 30, 2012
    SirPant
    Overlooking the simplicity of a complicated situation and the sugar-coating of a sour era, I was still pretty impressed with The Help. It's hype is justified, it is a great story with great characters, played by very a very competent cast who all do very well - although Bryce Dal... read morelas Howard could have toned it down a bit, she was verging on cartoon character in her performance at times. I think it is probably the ending that disappointed the most though, did they really all live happily ever after? Not quite but then you have to take it as it is and for what it is, and what it is ain't bad.
  • bottcorecords1
    March 29, 2012
    bottcorecords1
    Sometimes the catalyst for change begins with the simple flush of a toilet. The Help stars Emma Stone as a would-be writer who, returning to her home in Jackson, Mississippi after college, decides to write a book telling the world how "the help" feels working for white folks all... read more these years. Of course, it's a very taboo subject and many of the black women are reluctant to come forward with their stories. There are some irreverent questions and some pointed questions ("What's it like to raise white babies while someone else is raising yours?"), but it's not so much what these women say as it is they're saying anything at all. Jackson, Mississippi in the early 60s, (in fact, starting with the murder of Emmett Till in 1955) was ground zero for the civil rights movement. Mississippi, where Medgar Evers organized boycotts of service stations and was shot dead in the back by a gunman in the bushes in front of his home. There was a real threat and danger in the south at the time for those even considering equality among the races. "The Help" makes hushed references to these times, but more often than not, it focuses on the battle between the mean, rich preppy girl and the nerdy plain Jane girl. While there is some bigotry displayed, it feels tame, almost censored in order to appeal to today's more sensitive viewers. It's really two different films telling two different stories, and at two-and-a-half hours, it should've focused on one. In spite of it's flaws, it still manages to tell a human story and elicits emotions that play upon the audience's sense of justice. It also features some good, old-fashioned hollywood story telling, but it may have been just a trifle trite in dealing with it's subject matter. Despite oscar nominations and award-winning performances, there's nothing terribly extraordinary about The Help.
  • spielberg00
    March 24, 2012
    spielberg00
    Based on the book by Kathryn Stockett, THE HELP is a poignant, moving film, peppered with light-hearted humor every now and then to spice up the otherwise sad plot, which ultimately reaches the point of being somewhat depressing.

    Emma Stone, who we know from EASY A and ZOMBIELAN... read moreD, plays a great Skeeter Phelan, changing her accent to that of an aspiring Mississippian author for a two-hour-and-seventeen-minute long production; and Bryce Dallas Howard, who we can slightly recognize from THE VILLAGE and TERMINATOR SALVATION, portrays an even better Hilly Holbrook, a racist antagonist of the story.

    Compared to Kathryn Stockett's debut novel from only two years before, this film is very, very close to being as good. It portrays the author's view on racism in just the perfect light, and it is powered by great acting and cinematography that the author couldn't create, making THE HELP a near-flawless production. Truly, it is the best way we can see what the rights of African-Americans were in 1962.

    Ranked #7 of 2011.
  • fb100001048934982
    March 13, 2012
    fb100001048934982
    'The Help' seems to deserve most of its Oscar attention, but its not without its flaws. The archetypes that pollute the story are obvious and unwelcome. These characters have all been seen before (the do-good central female, the wealthy dictating woman, the oppressive mother, sag... read moreacious elders) and as an avid movie goer, it is such a turn off to see the same outlandish character traits in more than one movie. That being said, i thought this was a great adaption. The performances were committed and heartfelt with some very welcome surprises. The script was adapted well, and the transition from novel to film seemed pretty harmless. 'The Help' is not for any audience, but its core conflict and social commentary is interesting in itself, and is facilitated by great actors and a great story.
  • drcamyo
    March 12, 2012
    drcamyo
    A great drama with awesome performances. A definite must see!
  • fb1664868775
    March 2, 2012
    fb1664868775
    Though it has some flaws, The Help is a beautiful little story with some great performances.
  • fb100000883534329
    March 1, 2012
    fb100000883534329
    Before I start, let me just say I didn't read the book. This is solely based on my opinion of the film. This is a damn good film. I didn't see it in theaters and it wasn't til a month after it came out on DVD I rented it. The reason for this is that I thought this to be a chi... read moreck flick... I was dead wrong. This film had so much I didn't expect. The heart in this film was so real. This was one of the best ensemble films I've seen and I'm surprised more of the actresses weren't nominated for oscars. Octavia Spencer 100% deserved her award and I feel Viola Davis was robbed of hers. Emma Stone also gave an amazing performance, another great break through film for a comedic actress in doing a serious film such as Jonah Hill for Moneyball. If any film was going to take best pic from The Artist, it would have been this one. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone.

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Critic Reviews

Joe Morgenstern
August 11, 2011
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

"The Help" takes us on a pop-cultural tour that savors the picturesque, and strengthens stereotypes it purports to shatter. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
August 11, 2011
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Thanks to a talented cast -- starting with leads Emma Stone, Viola Davis​ and Octavia Spencer​ -- the movie is often entertaining. But The Help should have been challenging too. Full Review

Ben Sachs
August 11, 2011
Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader

As in many reductive period pieces, there are no real characters here, just archetypes, namely reactionary cretins and sensitive souls who anticipate modern attitudes. Full Review

Dana Stevens
August 11, 2011
Dana Stevens, Slate

The Help is 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. Full Review

David Denby
August 10, 2011
David Denby, New Yorker

[The Help] is, in some ways, crude and obvious, but it opens up a broad new swath of experience on the screen, and parts of it are so moving and well acted that any objections to what's second-rate se... Full Review

Tom Long
August 10, 2011
Tom Long, Detroit News

Appalling, entertaining, touching and perhaps even a bit healing, The Help is an old-fashioned grand yarn of a film, the sort we rarely get these days. Full Review

Amy Biancolli
August 10, 2011
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

A splendid entertainment -- a film that makes us for root for the good guys, hiss at the bad and convulse in laughter when good wreaks vengeance with a smile. Full Review

Rafer Guzman
August 10, 2011
Rafer Guzman, Newsday

The Help brings a chick-flick sensibility to a serious subject, which is more daring than it might sound. It's also incredibly refreshing. Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
August 10, 2011
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

While the book's minor -- but crucial -- details are often overlooked, the major themes are thrust on screen with forceful simplicity, as if Taylor doesn't trust us to understand the stakes. Full Review

David Edelstein
August 10, 2011
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

The Help belongs to Viola Davis. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Stuart Whitworth: I've never met a woman that says exactly what she's thinking.
    • Skeeter Phelan: Well, I got plenty to say.
    • Minny Jackson: Fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life.
    • Hilly Holbrook: Have you lost your mind?
    • Minny Jackson: No ma'am, but you 'bout to.
    • Aibileen: No one had ever asked me, what it felt like to be me. Once I told the truth about that, I felt free.
    • Aibileen: God says we need to love our enemies. It's hard to do, but it can start by telling the truth.
    • Elaine Stein: Eugenia, Martin Luther King just invited the entire country to march with him in DC in august. This many negros and whites have not worked together since 'Gone With The Wind'.
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The Help Trivia

  • What was the last animated Disney movie to be drawn completly by hand, without help from computers?  Answer »
  • Name the movie with the help of the following clues: - Soccer - Twins - Boarding School - Spider - Chick Flick   Answer »
  • In which film do Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis play inept ghosts who need the help of a professional spirit to help reclaim their house  Answer »
  • In What film does Jodie Foster enlist the help of a cannibal to catch a psychopath.  Answer »
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