Butter

Posted on June 10, 2009 | by admin

Carson note: I don’t think I’ve come across a script that’s caused more controversy in the last few years than Butter. Butter is a 2008 Nicholl winner that’s inspired all sorts of hatred – most of it directed at the contest which anointed it one of the five winners of its prestigious competition. Much like yesterday’s script, The Visitor…I mean The Tourist…I mean The Visitor — whatever the hell I reviewed! – opinions vary widely on this one. Which side of the fence do I fall on? Well, let’s just say that after I read Butter, I removed all butter from my fridge and vowed never again to eat any butter. Like, ever. The script felt too cute for its own good, quirky for the sake of being quirky, and preachy enough to start its own congregation. The central conflict didn’t even make sense as the reigning Butter champion – a man who lived to make these sculptures – quit the sport simply because someone asked him to. But all of that’s irrelevant because today the stage belongs to my buddy Ralphy – the only man in the world who reads as much as I do. Ralphy was originally supposed to review this two months ago but you know what they say: Better really really late than never. Ralphy, what did you think?

Genre: Quirky Comedy
Premise: A 12 year-old butter sculpting prodigy takes on the uber-competitive wife of Iowa’s best butter sculptor in a butter carving contest of epic proportions.
About: This script was a 2008 Nicholl finalist as well as #3 on the 2008 Black List.
Writer: Jason Micallef

Let’s face it: At some point in our lives, we’ve all looked at that stick of butter in the refrigerator and said, “Damn, I wish I had ten thousand of those so I could make a likeness of David Bowie. Or Ronald Reagan. Or Barbara Strei— Wait, no—Angelina Jolie! Ooh, ooh… a Ferrari! Angelina Jolie driving a Ferrari!”

Which is why a script about a cutthroat butter sculpting competition in Iowa is pretty damned brilliant. I mean, it plays on one of our deepest desires: the desire to create art out of food. Think about it. How many of us have sculpted our mashed potatoes into Devil’s Tower thanks to that one short (yet vital) scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind? And how many of us have done it EVERY TIME WE’VE EATEN MASHED POTATOES? (Bonus points if you’ve said “This means something” on five or more occasions.)

See? Now how many of us are going to turn that half-used, semi-rectangular glob of Land O’ Lakes into a miniature Roger Federer, mid-swing, if Jason Micallef’s Butter ever hits theaters? I know Carson will. And I imagine at least fifty million more of us will do SOMETHING weird with it seconds before we spread it on our toast. Or use it to make cookies. Mmmmmmmmmmm… cookies.

But I digress.

Here’s the thing. This script was a Nicholl finalist for a reason. The story is pretty simple: 12 year-old Destiny, a black girl who can’t understand why white people act the way they do, has been passed around from foster home to foster home, never quite finding the right fit. Her latest foster parents, Jill and Ethan, are seemingly perfect yet somewhat dysfunctional white suburbanites. Oh, and Destiny is a brilliant butter sculptor. As is the husband of feisty, bitch-on-wheels Laura Pickler. Bob’s his name, and no one has or will ever beat him in the annual butter sculpting competition. (They all live in Iowa, where butter sculpting competitions are very serious business.) When Orval, the main judge of the Iowa State Mastery in Butter Committee, asks Bob to step down this year and give someone else a shot, Laura gets mighty pissed. So pissed that she berates Bob endlessly when he won’t fight the decision. And then she decides to take butter into her own hands and enter the competition herself, at which point she becomes an archnemesis of sorts for Destiny. And thus, the story is born. Or sculpted.

I won’t bore you with plot details. The script follows the classic sports film paradigm, culminating in a showdown between Laura and Destiny. But along the way, it also manages to be a quirky, dark comedy as well as a moving character study.

Much has been made about the oddness of the concept. People wonder why anybody would want to see a movie like this. Well, why not? As far as I’m concerned, it’s cinematic as hell. I mean, look at the fantastic sh*t people have made out of butter. For example:



Also, according to Wikipedia, butter sculpting is an “ancient Tibetan Buddhist tradition” used in religious celebrations. So not only is it wicked filmable, it’s Buddhist!

And the script itself has that irresistible Little Miss Sunshine indie charm. The characters all come alive on the page, worming their various ways into our heart valves like so much cholesterol. And the tone achieves just the right marriage between satire and homage; between comedy and pathos; between American Beauty and… well, American Beauty. If the right director and cast get involved, this could be another critical darling that finds a sizable audience outside of arthouse theaters. Juno, anyone?

Yes, I’m saying this could be another Juno. Or American Beauty. Or Little Miss Sunshine.

Does the script have its problems? Of course it does. Don’t be silly. For one thing, characters undergo major changes of heart that aren’t warranted by the events which precede them. It’s almost as if the writer’s invisible hand were… Well, by now you get the idea. For another thing, not all of the tonal shifts are seamless. But these are fixable problems in a script that is otherwise bold and unique.

Now, I’m sure by this point most of you are thinking, “Wait a minute—sometimes this Ralphy character sounds awfully sarcastic and sometimes he sounds really sincere.” To which I reply (because I can read your thoughts), “I am merely attempting to mimic the tone of the script to give you an idea what you’re in for.”

And on that note, I bid you all farewell. It’s been a great, gooey mass of graven fun. (They keep them in giant coolers, by the way. You know, so they won’t melt. In case you were wondering.) I’m sure Carson will never, ever let me write a guest article for him again.


[ ] trash
[ ] barely kept my interest
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: Well, I didn’t really learn anything because I already know everything there is to know about screenwriting. But one thing this script illustrates is the importance of voice. Butter has it—in droves. But it’s not “voice for the sake of voice”; it’s the type of voice that suggests a film that will also have its own voice.

Posted in Comedy, Worth The Read
  • Anonymous

    Here we go again, another over hyped movie like Juno or Little miss Sunshine. Sure Sunshine was way better than Juno, but this script just strikes me has another HYPE-tacular! Not interested.

  • Anonymous

    I would say Juno was better than Sunshine. Quite a bit better.

    I don't think the problem was that these films (and I would also include Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite) are overhyped, the "problem" is that they're essentially mainstream comedies with easy, happy, endings and sentimental streaks a mile wide, but they're dressed up in art film drag, what with their Wes Anderson-imitating visual schemes and trendy casts and cool soundtracks.

    As such, they don't feel authentic. In fact, they feel just as designed for profit as your average four-quadrant summer blockbuster.

    The icky part is that they're ultimately mainstream comedies for people who want to look cool and into "trendy" art films. Which makes them like a frat boy in skinny jeans and wayfarers: doubly obnoxious.

  • Anonymous

    I preferred Little Miss Sunshine over Juno. By the time the credits rolled I wanted to curb stomp Juno.

  • Carson Reeves

    Yes, the controversy has begun!

  • Anonymous

    I really hated this script. I'm baffled as to how it could have been so well received by different groups within the industry.

    It's not funny. I've seen it mentioned in the trades, when Jennifer Garner signed on to star, as a "political satire". How can you satire something as ridiculous and obviously silly as butter carving?

    All of the characters are 1-D Cardboard Cutouts. The butter king's wife is essentially Annette Benning from AMERICAN BEAUTY minus any of the nuance. The character of Destiny is a really lame Magic Negro with no flaws. Hows this for subtlety: the stripper characters walks around in her stripper outfits in many scenes. Is this MEET THE SPARTANS?

    All this movie is a load of quirk, signifying nothing, to no effect whatsoever. The writer seems to think that choosing butter carving as a topic is SO CLEVER, that every time we see a wacky butter sculpture we're going to piss ourselves laughing.

    Look at BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. That script could be viewed as a load of quirk, but it's a classic script because it is all deployed for very specific purposes. All of that script's eccentricities either serve the script's theme of CONTROL, or add conflict. Craig's career as a fledgling puppeteer, Lotte's bisexuality, Craig's boss as a 100+ year old man, the choice of John Malkovich as the vessel… all of these things on the surface are mere quirks, but they all are very specific cogs and gears in a very specific machine.

    BUTTER is a bunch of arbitrary quirk slapped together to be quirky. That's all. If a script wins the Nicholl, it should be because of its own merits, and not because a director could turn it into a great, masterpiece of quirk.

  • Emily Blake

    Spot on.

    I didn't know there was any kind of controversy or that it had won the Nicholl when I read it. I just read it because I liked the logline.

    This script was flat-out adorable. I mean, the thing's called "Butter" for crying out loud. What did you think you were getting? I guess they could have called it "Pixie Stix" and maybe then it would be more obvious. This is meant to be a cute movie. And cute it is. I don't think I guffawed, but I smiled and chuckled all the way through the script.

  • Anonymous

    Gotta agree with whoever it was that penned that second comment. When one thinks "art film," one thinks of say, "8 1/2" or "Breathless." Let's face it, "Napoleon Dynamite" and it's ilk are 80s era made for t.v. flicks in disguise.

  • Ralphy W

    In the interest of pigeonholing, I consider films like Napoleon Dynamite, Juno and Little Miss Sunshine to be "indie with mainstream sensibilities." And even then, I use the term "indie" pretty loosely. After all, Juno was distributed by Fox.

    Do these films have the same impact (cultural and otherwise) as, say, Cries and Whispers or L'Eclisse? Are they as ballsy in their disregard for audience sensibilities as Mad Cowgirl or A Hole in My Heart (both of which I loved, btw)? Well, no. But that doesn't negate them — film appreciation is not an all-or-nothing proposition.

    And in that spirit, I dug Butter. While it IS flawed (I think the current draft is at least five removed from the one I read), it also has a lot of potential. In my opinion, anyway. :)

  • Anonymous

    All I have to say is Micheal "I'll push anything through cause I'm the man" De Luca. He's the only reason I'm even giving this thing a read. I don't even like butter.

  • Anonymous

    Brilliant- Bob is Bill Clinton, Laura is Hillary and Destiny is Barack. Clever, fresh and hilarious. Who cares if it doesn't follow all the rules- it is a good read and will do well under the right cast and director. Didn't like the ending but overall very well done.

  • Anonymous

    I really don't think people felt "artsy" for watching Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. I haven't met these people. Most just think it's cute and fun.

  • Anonymous

    Well no, not primarily. They enjoyed them as they would a mainstream comedy. But there was a certain added cache for some of, whoa, look at this wacky folk group on the soundtrack! They're weird and quirky! I am extra hip for liking this film!

    Which led to the inevitable backlash from equally insufferable film snobs… "oh, you'd never heard of Kimya Dawson before she sold out with Juno? What a shame."

  • Anonymous

    Juno is to Little Miss Sunshine as Son of the Mask is to Wild Strawberries.

    No comparison.

    Juno sucks and Butter sucks.

  • Carson Reeves

    I've found that this script tends to be favored by females. Is that accurate?

  • Anonymous One

    From inside the industry, I'd have to agree with the astute comment that Juno, Sunshine, etc., are industry art films which can't be considered direct descendants of Sex, Lies, and Videotape, She's Gotta Have It, etc., real independent art films.

    I am not judging the quality of Juno or Sunshine, just seconding the correct observation that they were essentially studio film made within the system.

    As for Butter, if the system ends up making it, then it is what it is. Which is not an independent art film.

  • Maria

    I think people missed the fact that Butter is a satire! It actually touches on some pretty serious issues (racial differences, ways women can be ambitious yet still be traditional, conservative vs liberal ideology, the hypocrisy of right-wing Christian ideologists), but because the plot is also about butter carving, it isn't threatening or preachy.

    I thought the characters have promise, but I agree with the review that the changes they undergo don't seem warranted with what happens in the script.

    Nonetheless, I thought this script was a great read and hope the movie turns out as well!

  • Anonymous

    RE: Butter as a satire… I don't see how you can take this script seriously as a satire of "racial differences" when the only black character in this script is written in the form of a Magic Negro, literally so because she seems to have a supernatural skill at butter carving. I don't think this writer has a single unique comment on race relations in this script. And that Kwanzaa joke at the end made me want to throw up.

  • Anonymous

    With respect to Maria's comment, I gotta say, I'm a bit tired of seeing "the hypocrisy of right-wing Christian ideologists" presented over and over and over again. Give us something fresh!!

  • Anonymous

    Agreed. I'm a left-wing non-Christian, but this has just become a massive cliche at this point. It's like the evil corporation thing. I have no problems with fictional corporations being portrayed as evil on film from a political standpoint (unlike many conservatives), but it's been done so often that it's just tired creatively.

  • Anonymous

    Don't be fooled. This thing IS preachy. It looks down it's nose at the simpleton, butter carving mid-westerners without much depth or nuance. Yet another chance to have a laugh at the fly over states and their crazy bible thumping and SUV's, without much originality, save for focusing it around butter carving.

  • Carson Reeves

    I was going to order a croissant today, but then I remembered how much butter they have in them. Cancel.

  • Anonymous

    "Bob is Bill Clinton, Laura is Hillary and Destiny is Barack."

    interesting thought… haven't gotten too far in, but I think it's a cool reading of the script.

    My major question is: isn't it kind of taboo for a spec script to have camera angles, etc.? I guess this might not qualify as a spec because… I don't know, the screenwriter has representation? Does that exempt it, or?

  • actfourscreenplays

    Okay, I'm WAY late to the game with this comment thread, but I just discovered this site and I read Butter for my reading group that disbanded before we got to discuss it!

    I wanted to make one observation that I haven't seen: this script (unknowingly?) borrows so much from a wonderful script I read years ago named "Dairy Queens," by Lona Williams, which became the movie "Drop Dead Gorgeous" with Kirsten Dunst (which I've only seen scenes from, but the impression I got was that it sucked). Dairy Queens was hilarious, but actually suffered from an interesting flaw: it had TOO many jokes, which was a big note in my comments page (former Reader here, too). The writer went out of her way to put five jokes in every scene, so there was too much going on; but it was still better than 9 out of 10 comedies I read. Anywho…point is…

    I hated Butter, definitely thought it not only was mocking Midwesterners but was doing so in a way that was completely cliche'd, a la Dairy Queens, Fargo, and many other popular movies of late. Definitely had the "Magic Negro" element, had several forced plot points and not a single character that I cared about.

    If it was satire, it was well trod, safe, uninspired satire (see Election, Saved, Little Miss Sunshine, for examples of much better films). A limp, shallow script.

    IMHO!

  • Seslimeydan

    Thank you for the information your provide. sesli chat Sohbette kalite
    SesliSohbet Seslide kalite Sesli Sohbet Sende gel dunyamiza Sesli Chat KatilSesli Chat siteleriBizi mutlu edersin.sesliAlemSesli SohbetburdaSesli ChatSesli sohbetteSesli SohbetSeNSesli ChatGelSesli SohbetAramizaSesli ChatkatilSesli SohbetbizimleSesli Chat en güzelini Sesli Sohbet yasayacaksın Sesli Chat Hadi Sesli SohbetbekliyorumSesli ChatSeniSesli sohbet siteleriArkadasliklarSesli şehir burda
    Seslişehir kurulur avsa avsa Sende SesliChatgel
    SesliSohbetarkadasiniSeslisohbet siteleribulSesliChat sitelerigelecen misesli chatthansk admin.
    SesliChat sitesi gel yanimizaSesli Chat sitesi bekliyorum.

  • xx
  • ircscorpion
  • Baranjik
  • kenaN_
  • sikis
  • ilizyonist

    Türkiye'de yaşayan travesti veya trv kısaltması olarakta kullanılan üçüncü cinsin temsilcilerini daha yakından tanımak isteyen ziyaretçilere travesti siteleri'ni tanıtmak istiyorum. Travestiler;mersin travestileri, antalya travestileri, bursa travestileri, istanbul travestileri, ankara travestileri olarak kategorilere ayrılmış sitelerimizde özellikle ülkemizin en yoğun şehriistanbul travestileri, travesti yaşamının büyük bir bölümünü oluşturuyor. Travesti karşı cinsin özelliklerini tam anlamıyla taşımasada kendini öyle hisseden, karşı cins gibi giyinip hareket eden ameliyat olmamış kişidir. Travesti arkadaşlarla tanışmak isteyenleri yukarıda verdiğim kategorilere göre arayabilirsiniz. Üklemizde de diğer avrupa ülkelerinde olduğu gibi vip travesti hizmeti veren ve vip travesti özelliklerine sahip olan birçok travesti bulmak mümkün.Escort bayan gibi escort travesti hizmeti sunan birçok travesti'ye rastlayabilirsiniz. Farklı sitelerdeki travesti vip sitelerini verdiğim adreslerde rahatlıkla bulabilir, travesti resimleri'ni profillerini inceleyebilirsiniz.travesti'

  • phentermine, phentermine 37.5

    Interesting article, Thanks!

  • online pharmacy no prescription, online pharmacy no prescription needed

    You provide such great topic.

  • hakan
Archives
  • ►2013 (115)
  • ►2012 (277)
  • ►2011 (291)
  • ►2010 (324)
  • ►2009 (351)