Now This is Happening: Spinning Into Butter
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 24, 2009
As you know, the best of days always come with a few unexpected surprises. Today’s surprises included a tweet from my good friend Meli about an interesting little movie called Spinning Into Butter. Of course, I know what you are thinking right away — what sort of movie has a title like Spinning Into Butter? It gets better, friends. Upon further inspection of website and trailer (seen below), it turns out that this film is much worse than its title would suggest.
Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex in the City) plays the new dean at an elite New England college who is thrust into the middle of some heavy racial tension when one of the school’s teachers (Beau Bridges) comes under scrutiny after a series of race-related incidents. Based on a critically acclaimed play, Spinning Into Butter “examines the emotional fallout of prejudice within the cloistered walls of academia.”
Critically acclaimed play or not, this movie looks a little rough. First of all, a note to the film’s producers: if you have to include the explanation of the title in the trailer, you need a new title for your movie. As well, if this is Sarah Jessica Parker trying to do some serious acting, I’m out. She needs to stick to what works — the whinings of middle-aged New York singles and shoes. But who knows, this movie could be good, right? It looks like an intense and gripping drama about race relations in New England, headlined by Beau Bridges.
Okay, nevermind. That doesn’t actually sound good at all. Add to that the fact that if you go to the film’s website and browse the “photos,” two-thirds of them are headshots of Sarah Jessica looking perplexed (see above for an example). Trying too hard? I think so.
Check out the trailer for yourself below and let me know what you think. Spinning Into Butter also stars Mykelti Williamson and Miranda Richardson. It hits theaters on March 20 in NYC, LA and Washington, DC.
Read more articles by Neil Miller
