The Butler is an adapted, true story of White House butler, Eugene Allen. It covers life in the White House over a 30 year period, beginning with President Eisenhower and ending with President Reagan. Allen served in the White House from 1952 as a pantry man and retired as head butler in 1986. He died in 2010. Of note about this film; It is filled with cameos of notable public servants being played by notable public figures…

Story: This story is beautifully weaved together. It’s a historical journey as well as a look into the private lives of some important people in our history. We learn that JFK took 131 pills a day… LBJ was really crass… Nixon was really sweaty, all the time… and Reagan gave his own money to people who wrote to him saying they were having a hard time making ends meet. Little details like those are what make this story so thoughtful. And little details like those are the kinds you can only get from someone on the inside… Like a butler…

I will also admit that the story started out really intense. The first 15 minutes forces you to relive the truth about race relations during the early 20th Century, culminating with the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. It’s a lot of hate and anger displayed on film and it was a bit hard to watch. But, the truth none-the-less. Again, very well weaved together and very well set-up to tell the full story, hard to watch or not.

Performances: As previously mentioned, the cameos and heavy-hitters in this film have as much to do with its epic nature as the story. Forest Whitaker plays Cecil Gaines, The Butler and Oprah Winfrey plays his wife, Gloria. Other important roles are Robin Williams as Eisenhower; James Marsden as JFK with Minka Kelly as Jackie Bouvier Kennedy; Liev Schieber as LBJ; John Cusack as Nixon; And Alan Rickman as Reagan with Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan. These cameo’s are fun to watch.

President Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama are depicted in archival footage. Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Lenny Kravits also portray fellow White House butlers. Mariah Carey as a young Cecil Gaines mother is an interesting casting decision and the two men who play Gaines sons – Louis and Charlie – add a nice touch to Gaines’ personal story.

The only performance that left me wondering was Terence Howard as the sleasy neighbor. So much talk has been made of the romantic scenes between him and Oprah Winfrey, but, I found it insignificant to the rest of the stories. And not romantic… Daniels must have cut these scenes…

In all, if an Oscar nomination comes of it, I won’t be surprised or outraged. I just think most of the performances were too brief to actually get a nomination. Likely Forest Whitaker or Oprah just because…

Visual: Everything is spot-on. As the decades roll by, the costumes evolve into the look, the cars evolve into the era, the sounds depict the time. The use of archival footage is excellent. There is nothing worse than re-enacting a historical scene and missing the mark. Using archival footage ensure you get it exactly right.

And even the scenes showing The White House look authentic. Definite A+ for the look of the film…

Rating: I give The Butler an A-. With exception of the marketing, which made me think there was a more significant role for Terence Howard and Oprah together, I was very pleased. The marketing should have focused more on Oprah and Forest with their kids, leaving us to be surprised and entertained by the cameos. Did love the cameos…

A must see wherever you decide to see it. My only prediction is that this could end up being, The Help of 2013 when Oscar time shows up – deserved or not. Stay tuned…