‘Butter’ Review: High-Stakes Popularity
Fed up with his classmates’ contempt, an obese high school student decides he’ll gorge himself to death on New Year’s Eve.Why do movies that take on bullying so often fetishize the very acts they seem to be critiquing? “Butter,” directed by Paul A. Kaufman — who adapted Erin Jade Lange’s young adult novel — seems to wallow in the brutality.Fed up with his classmates’ contempt, a high school junior, Butter (Alex Kersting), decides he’ll show them by eating himself to death on New Year’s Eve. Just tune in to buttersfinalmeal.com, he announces online. But far from shaming or freaking out his peers, Butter’s promise makes him a celebrity at his school.Once the movie gets going, Kersting, a newcomer, gives an all-in performance. Butter is a gifted saxophone player, a thoughtful soul. He’s gaining ground in his incognito courting of the school’s popular girl (McKaley Miller). Onetime foes are becoming friends. Is there any wonder he’s approaching his big night with less and less verve?The adults in Butter’s life are less compelling. Mira Sorvino plays Butter’s flummoxed mom. His dad (Brian Van Holt) is even more confounded and distant. And Butter’s physician (Ravi Patel) is a tad too madcap. The only adults who seem to really see him are his band teacher (Mykelti Williamson) and a hospital psychiatrist (Annabeth Gish).The movie is a good-hearted dramatic comedy about the bedeviling issues of bullying, and the hazards of social media. But the lessons become stand-ins for richer characters who could have been memorable — and persuasive. For all its ache and churning emotions, “Butter” winds up being little more than a meager “Afterschool Special.”ButterRated PG-13 for suicidal ideation, crude sexual material and even cruder language. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. In theaters. More
