Storyline
A look at the life of Cecil Gaines who served eight presidents as the White House's head butler from 1952 to 1986, and had a unique front-row seat as political and racial history was made.
Directors
Writers
Cast
James Marsden, Robin Williams, Liev Schreiber, Minka Kelly, Vanessa Redgrave, Forest Whitaker, Alex Pettyfer, David Oyelowo, Alan Rickman, Clarence Williams III, John Cusack, Terrence Howard, Mariah Carey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Yaya DaCosta, David Banner, Oprah Winfrey, Stephen Rider, Nealla Gordon, Jane Fonda, LaJessie Smith, Jesse Williams, Michael Rainey Jr., John P. Fertitta, Ami Ameen, Jim Gleason, Rusty Robertson
Trailer
Reviews
88
Slant Magazine
With the film, Lee Daniels quietly pushes his talent for hashing out visceral, violent emotions into unexpected dramatic terrain.
83
As Cecil, Whitaker is mesmerizing. The actor seems to shrink into his imposing frame, summoning a performance of quiet, bottled-up force.
75
The Butler carries an authenticity that sustains it through its cloying stretches.
70
There’s no denying, though, that Daniels knows how to push an audience’s buttons, and as crudely obvious as The Butler can be...it’s also genuinely rousing. By the end, it’s hard not to feel moved, if also more than a bit manhandled.
70
Crudely powerful. You can object to the thuggish direction and the script that’s a series of signposts, but not the central idea, which is genuinely illuminating.
